Today guests from all over Central America (and some from other Latin American countries) will begin arriving for seminario. We have already enjoyed a couple of brief visits with Juan Jose Flores from Ecuador, a Baxter alumnus involved in local church work in Ibarra and also involved at Quito SBS. Yesterday, we visited briefly with Jason Tenison on campus–he is from Park Plaza in Tulsa, working in the new effort at Talanga. The keynote speaker, Dr. Bob Hooper, arrived yesterday with his wife Bonnie, and we enjoyed both lunch and dinner with them–a delightful couple that we first met in Guatemala several years ago on a Pan American Lectureship.
Yesterday filled up with meetings fairly quickly, and today has its fair share of meetings as well, but I hope also to be able to give some final touches to my seminario class since I know the time will be even more limited once seminario begins.
Honduras: Tuesday, May 10
The morning began as expected–the treed-campus means that the birds begin singing very early–some by 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. Such is a delightful way to awaken–and I lay awake in the darkness praying and thinking about the marvelous ways God has provided for his people.
There is a work group here this week, staying on campus as they provide support for the mission work in this area. We greeted them as we left the cafeteria last night (after last evening’s blog). They will leave the first day of seminario, but another work group is scheduled to arrive the same day! An extremely busy time on campus with lots of seminario guests as well.
Today will be our first real opportunity to greet the students as we attend chapel and interact with the campus community in the last day of “normal” before seminario.
Honduras: Monday, May 9
Today’s travels were without major difficulties. The departure gate in Houston was right around the corner from the arrival gate, so we made the connection easily, although they were already checking passports when we got to the gate. It was a nice day for travel after a few early bumps, and we arrived right on time and got through immigration and customs with minimal problems–only long lines (as usual).
This evening we are set up on campus and ready for some full days ahead. This afternoon we went to the store to get a few supplies for our stay in the apartment, and I also got my internet connection arranged just before the end of the work day. Along the way we enjoyed some contacts with students–some students we knew from past visits, others from among the large incoming class. We also met a couple of the VCOM students who are here on mission rotation–Jessica and Rachel.
Faculty and staff are always especially cordial as we return, and we enjoyed those visits, hugs, and greetings also.
We will appreciate your prayers for us and for the work we will be able to accomplish.
Travel Day: Honduras Blogs Begin
Travel day–up early this morning!
Hard to believe we will be on the ground in Honduras a few minutes after 11 a.m. this morning One we arrive, we always hit the ground running–I am especially looking forward to meeting the first year students. With 27 or so new students this year, it will take a few introductions to get names and histories connected.
My “to do” list is already full and overflowing, but I plan also to find some time for casual interactions and enjoying special relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ we usually see only once or twice a year. This will be Jan’s opportunity to practice some of what she learned last month in Guatemala.
As the trip unfolds, we will do our best to keep you updated and informed. Right now–it’s off to the airport!
Remembering how hard it is to forget
Forgetting is not easy. The more I try to forget, the more I remember. This difficulty of forgetting is apparently a part of the human experience and defense mechanism. When something or someone has a negative impact in my life, it is natural to try to avoid a repetition.
I have been reminded of this truth several times in the past few months. Regardless of how much I individually and personally may want to forgive someone and forget the past, others who have been hurt much more deeply than I have keep the memory alive.
Lessons:
Days of Preparation
The days march on! Sorry about the couple of days away from blogging–finalizing preparations for my seminar class at Baxter Institute Seminario next week. Four hours focused on “Evidences of the Spiritual Life in the Church.” The few days of seminario are always special every year–renewing, refreshing, reconnecting. Looking forward to time with graduates and hearing and updating their stories and lives. The Sunday Culto Unido (United Worship) is always special as well. This year’s featured speaker is Dr. Robert Hooper, church historian and professor at Lipscomb.
The trip to Honduras will find us in several different places–checking on various works, visiting, remembering, teaching and preaching. I will also check on some details for summer mission trips. All of that means more preparations.
Next Sunday I will preach at Kiowa–another prep.
In the meantime (or along the way), I am reading and rereading several books, focusing on the spiritual life, rereading some books on the subject of effective overseeing and governing boards, and reviewing mission theory and practice.
No excuses intended, but an explanation of my blogging absence past–and a possible explanation of my blogging absence future! First things first!
It’s Sunday Again: Remember What?
We take the phrase often repeated in the Lord’s Supper for granted: Do this in remembrance…. We so often read or quote 1 Cor. 11:23ff that we do not feel the disconnection. Do you know that the phrase also appears in Luke’s gospel? Jesus says to his disciples—before his death!—do this in my remembrance. What were they to remember?
The easy answer is that Jesus was speaking with the future in mind. He was anticipating the observance of the Supper by the early church after his death. But one can rightfully ask, “Is there something more?” What were they to remember? Was it the challenge of faithful discipleship? Was it the tendency to argue about greatness? Was it the challenge of fear and faith existing side by side? What was it?
Today we remember Jesus’ death and resurrection and we celebrate his return as we observe the Supper. We are often asked to send our minds back to the cross—to remember backward. Is something else involved in our remembering? Should we not also remember forward and think about how the Christ events have made all the difference in our life, and how his death and resurrection continually change us? Might we remember our own challenges, and with gratitude praise him because our weaknesses, failures, and sins are overcome by his blood? Might we remember his promise to return? Today, let us remember back, but let us also spend some time remembering forward.
An Idea: Day of Prayerful Gratitude
I awoke this morning with thanksgiving in my heart. My early morning prayer quickly turned to a lengthy list of blessings for which I am grateful. I knew the list was incomplete–there was no way to enumerate all I have received from the God who blesses his people.
I determined that I would go through today noticing life more carefully than normal, noticing blessings both great and small, and that I would be aware that all are a gift from God. Already the list is growing to include things I seldom include in my “blessings list”.
Perhaps you would like to identify a “Gratitude Day” and notice the blessings in your life that are often overlooked. If you adopt this idea, I would enjoy hearing from you to know how it went.
Philippians 2: Hanging on to “Stuff”
I was recently reading Philippians 2. The text says that Jesus did not consider his position of equality with God as something to be grasped. He had to let go of it to accomplish his purpose. He emptied himself. As I read the passage afresh, I noted that Jesus let go of a number of things in order to accomplish our salvation.
In a world where we Christians are so often tempted to hang on to the things that give us security, meaning, position, and stability, it is helpful to note all of the things Jesus let go of. What things would you put on your list? What did Jesus let go of? What are the applications for us in our tendency to hang on to the “stuff of life”?
It’s Sunday Again: Resurrection
On a day that celebrates resurrection, or perhaps more properly on the day that celebrates resurrection, we should stop and ask ourselves what it means to live resurrected lives. Certainly Jesus’ resurrection is the promise of our future resurrection (read 1 Corinthians 15). But Paul also reminds us that Jesus’ resurrection is already at play in our lives since we in baptism have become participants in his death, his burial, and his resurrection (Romans 6).
What does it mean for me to live out the reality of my true and full self made possible in Jesus? What is different about my resurrected life than was true before I became a follower of Jesus? Frederick Buechner wrote about “our true and full self” in the following words:
“What we hunger for perhaps more than anything else is to be known in our full humanness, and yet that is often just what we also fear more than anything else. It is important to tell at least from time to time the secret of who we truly and fully are . . . because otherwise we run the risk of losing track of who we truly and fully are and little by little come to accept instead the highly edited version which we put forth in hope that the world will find it more acceptable than the real thing.”
What does it mean to be fully known? Are we willing to come face to face with who we really are? Do we feel compelled to maintain a facade? In resurrection, we are reminded of the possibility of newness, and we affirm that who we truly and fully are is no pretend matter, but that we are new creatures in Christ.