Standing on the Promises of God

This morning I was preparing my daily cup of hot chocolate, and I found myself humming the tune to "Standing on the Promises of God".  When I was just a young boy, I had my first "solo" part in church singing this phrase in the song.  The whole class would sing the rest of the verse, but when it came to "standing on the promises of God" everyone would drop out and I sang it alone.

This morning as I contemplated His promises, I realized that often we like to stand on the promises that offer reward and success, promises of healing and prosperity.  We enjoy "holding God's feet to the fire" when it comes to the good that He has promised.

However, as I read in Jeremiah, I am reminded how God promised to "repent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit them."  Numerous times in the Old Testament God talks with His people and promises them many good things, but also reminds them that if they do not listen, if they do not obey, He will not withhold His judgement.

When God promises, we can count on it!  His word is good and He will bring it to pass.  As I think about my life and the ways I fail God, I am thrilled that He does not fail me, that He is faithful through and through.  However, if I seek to go my own way, if I decide to disobey, I must realize that His word is faithful there as well.

We long for the benefits and gifts from God.  I need to do the work of obedience so that His hand is not limited.  Jesus gave me his righteousness, so I cannot improve on it, however, I must live in a way that honors the gift by being obedient to the giver.  Then, and only then, can I expect the showers of blessings from heaven to flow.

Guatemala trip - Day 7

Today we have the opportunity to give food to some of Guatemala's neediest people.  We joined with the woman who was part of the Reparando movie - we went to La Limonad - the part of the city that is highlighted in this movie.

We had packaged 200 bags of food, and we distributed 100 to each of the 2 local schools there.  We arrived in the neighborhood, received instruction about how to behave while there, and then made a line of people from the van toward the school.  We passed 100 bags of food from person to person and made a large pile halfway to the school, then we passed the bags from person to person until we made it to the school.  We took a tour of the school and were able to meet some of the workers there. 

After seeing the school, we walked through the poor neighborhood and did house visits.  What a wonderful time of seeing people in their homes and hearing there stories.  We heard from a couple that had been married for many years.  He couldn't see very well, and she couldn't hear.  He said she was his eyes, and he was her ears.  It was very interesting for the group to hear their story.  We left there home and visited a number of more people as we traveled through the neighborhood.  Eventually I began seeing gang members collecting, and I was happy to arrive at the second school where we made our line and passed the final 100 bags into the building.  Afterwards we toured the building and listened to the workers there as they shared their vision for reaching the children of that neighborhood.


We left the school and headed back to Verbana to finish our projects.  We finished the painting job, and then took some time to clean the trash around the facility.  The team did an excellent job, and I was thrilled to watch as they completed all of the assignments they were given, and actually went above and beyond to do more than was required.

The day ended with dinner with Ruth and the Smiths, followed by a time of encouraging each other with the things that they have seen God do in each other's lives.  As always, I thoroughly enjoyed listening as they encouraged each other in their faith.  I pray that the things said this evening will bear fruit for a long time in the lives of the team members.

Heading home tomorrow - anxious to be home, but sad to leave the team.  It is wonderful to have another team like this.  I am truly blessed.

Guatemala trip - Day 6

Today began very early because we had to get to Camp Caanan as soon as possible.  We were going to do the presentation for the day and then hang out with the kids.  The plan – each member of the team would give a testimony, we would sing a couple songs, and do a skit.  That is just what we did.  We broke the team into 3 groups of 5, then we sang 2 songs and the first group gave their testimonies.  We sang 2 more songs and the second group gave their testimonies, and then we did a drama and the third group spoke.  They did a great job sharing the story of how they came to know Christ, and then encouraging the kids in their own pursuit of God.  The drama was a presentation of how people respond to the message of the cross – and after that we sang Amazing Grace.  Jose Luis (the camp director) told us that the things that were said were perfectly in line with the things he had been sharing with them all week.    We also gave all of the kids “wordless book” bracelets, and I challenged them to use them to share Jesus with their friends.

After we shared, we had “snack time” together and they drank a milky white substance and had bread.  Then we headed out to the soccer field to play soccer.  There were 55 kids total, but only about 30 of them played soccer.  We played our team against their team, and they won 5-4.  We all had a great time.  Oscar (a 16 year old kid on the other team) and I connected as we played together.  He was an excellent soccer player, and was obviously respected by his teammates.  After the game (we blew the cover off the ball), someone brought another ball out, and I played goalie as Oscar and some of the others tried to score.  He could make the ball do some cool stuff. 

Then we headed in for lunch.  I had the privilege of sitting at Oscar’s table.  We were able to communicate a little.  Eventually I pulled out the laser that I purchased in Greece, and he asked me if he could buy it from me.  I said I only had one, and he told me that I could buy another one tomorrow.  I would have loved to give it to him, but I concluded that it might not be best for him at camp (might just get him in trouble).  After lunch we took some photos, and headed off for our next adventure.

Filadelfia was our next stop.  The first thing we did was meet with 6 children from this child care center that did not have sponsors.  All 6 kids were spoken for by the end of the meeting.  Three children were sponsored by individuals (families) on the team, two children were sponsored by a pair of individuals on the team, and 1 child will be sponsored by the team as a whole.  Ruth was overwhelmed at the response – as I was.  It was cool to watch.  After that, we handed out bracelets to all 90 of the children in the school, and then answered questions from the kids.  Then we played soccer and basketball with the kids.  This missions thing is extremely physical work J.  Seriously, I love playing with the kids, and encouraging them to work together as a team.   By the way, it had been 20 years since a team had come to Filadelfia in the afternoon to spend time with the older children – 12 to 17.  They were very excited to see us – many had been with AMG since they were in pre-school, so they had seen Gringos before, but not since they moved to “middle/high school”.

Our last stop for the day was dinner at a terrific place.  They ordered 4 plates for all of us to pick off of.  They brought the food out on little “barbecue” type trays – with the charcoal still burning under the food.  On top – chicken, steak, pork and sausage links.  It was enough food to feed an army.  We had a great time of fellowship over dinner.

Back at the hotel, we had our evening wrap up.  The team was very transparent about what they had seen and what they were feeling.  They are learning much.  God is working on their hearts, and I am getting excited about our final wrap up tomorrow evening.  People were sharing and crying and praying and laughing.  The team is really dreading leaving, but getting excited about returning next year.  Only God knows what the future holds, but I am expecting great things out of this group in the future.

Time for bed – after 11 now, and we have an early start again tomorrow.  We will be passing out the food tomorrow (I thought we were doing that today, but I was mistaken).  Final paint jobs, clean up at Verbana, evening dinner with the whole crew, and then final wrap up – it is going to be a long but wonderful day tomorrow.  I need my rest.