Seeing God in Making Friends in Cuba

One of the main reasons we went to Cuba was so that our kids could make friends and have a good experience.  We all wanted to make friends and deepen friendships, sometimes with people we knew and sometimes with people we were going to meet.

I had a girl in mind for Terra to get to know.  She is a year older than Terra.  Her older sister is married and we really enjoyed her and her husband.  Before we came we found out that it was going to be her Quince (15^th) birthday the week that we were in Cuba.  The girl is quiet and reads a lot and very nice, kind of like Terra.  We bought a present for her, and we were able to go to her house and see her 15^th Birthday pictures.  She doesn't speak much English, but it was nice to make that connection with somebody here. 

There is another girl who is 12 years old and I recognized from before as being at the church regularly.  I was praying for somebody for Trinity to get to know, even though Trinity tends to get to know people easily.  Our church had help them to buy a house to use as a church building, so one of our main goals was to go and see the house and to take pictures or it so we can share them with our church in Edmonton.  There was a family living in it of course, so we didn't just tour a future church building, we toured somebody's home. Guess which family lives in that house?  It’s the same girl I had noticed before and was praying about.  So we got a tour of her house and saw her chickens and rabbits and pig in the backyard too. 

That night we went to a camp to the service.  The church rented a bus to take anybody who wanted to go.  Who shows up?  The same girl and her parents came. She doesn't speak much English - maybe less than Terra and Trinity speak Spanish - but while the adults were doing church they ran around and played.   The girl talked incessantly, even though Terra and Trinity couldn’t understand anything.  Another friendship was made.

For Darcia and I there were a few people who we wanted to spend time with.  One of our translators, Yusnan, and his wife Elizabeth, were our friends.  We went to their house and visited with them.  They were an incredible blessing to us.   We’re much richer for knowing them. 

There were other encounters too, the kind that you can't ever plan or anticipate.  We had this crazy idea of getting into a school to see what it might be like.  One day while walking down the street I heard “Where are you from?”  I turned around and there was an 11 year old boy smiling.  I waved him over and we talked for a bit.  He ran back to his class, and I waved at his teacher.  Then we talked with his teacher and the kids in his class. Then I asked if we could bring our children in to see his classroom.  We went in and talked for a few minutes before the school principal came and told us we had to leave.   

Many other friends.  A man who asked for a Spanish cookbook next time we come, and said next time we’re invited to their house for dinner.  A family with two great boys.  A family that hosts a mission church in their house, the missionary of that church and his family, the host of the Casa Particular where we stayed.  The pastor and his family are so warm, so generous, so hospitable, so caring, so friendly.  They really are a dream to us.  Such wonderful people, the kind of that you can never plan for or expect meeting.

God has been good to us, and God answered my prayer, that we would be able to come and make friends for the four of us, to enjoy this place in this family, and deepen the love we have for these people and this place.

The slow pace of growing

I'm doing my Bible reading in Spanish.  Having to translate word by word makes me slow down and think about it a lot more.

Today I read Philippians 3.7-14.

First I read "I have lost everything to the end of knowing Christ, experiencing the power that is manifested in his resurrection, participate in his suffering and to get to be similar to him in his death."  

After that I journalled a bit - somewhat depressingly.  

"Maybe the Bible was written for older men who see life differently, because I don't get this yet.  I want to live in the power of the resurrection - that part is good.  But I'm really not interested in the suffering and death part, and the joy of knowing Christ seems weak at times."  Sometimes I'm afraid that I will never get it.

Then I translated the next few verses.

"Not that I have acquired all this yet, or that I am perfect.  However I continue forward hoping to obtain this, that for which Christ has obtained me."

Of course we're not there yet.  Like Paul, we can simply keep moving toward the goal, to one day win the prize.

So keep going, and good job.

On our way to Cuba, God in the airport

We're in the airport on our way to Cuba.
A few days ago I started praying that we would meet special people - people we don't necessarily know we will meet, but people and encounters that we will remember the most. Magical ones.

I'm a little afraid that we won't make real, deep friendships with anyone. So I started to pray that we would.

It was slow when we checked in our bags. The service lady asked where we were going in Cuba.  We answered slowly, not knowing if she wanted to hear the whole story, especially the religious part. But she kept asking. How did we make the connections? What were we going? Bit by bit the story came out.

Then we found out that her husband is/was a pastor. At a church my brother went to. "When I saw Hoover on your ticket I wondered if you were related to Jason." Then she asked God to bless us, and we were on our way.

Can God create divine moments of friendship?

Power, love, and self discipline

The first sermon I ever preached was from 2 Timothy 1.7. "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power love and self discipline." It was at a youth retreat when I was 21.  

Power, or the being able to do things, love, and self discipline. I guess in the 20 years since then I've come to believe that these three things are even more important.

Power. Not power as in control of something, but power in the ability to do things, to affect change, to accomplish things. What person doesn't ask the question, "Can I do that? I don't know if I have the ability. I don't think I can." Yet Jesus doesn't call us to things without a means to do them. We don't have unlimited abilities, but we are able to do what God asks us to do, in the way that he intends.  We are much more capable than we feel. The exact word is dynamite.

Love. Isn't this the best thing that's before everything? The person who grows in love is the person who is mature, and wise, and godly, and spiritual. We think that we can be all these things without growing in love, but this is foolishness. Love is the goal, and the measuring stick, of how human we are.

Self discipline. No one becomes who they want to be or who God wants them to be without self discipline. This is the ability to make yourself do what you need to do. Instead we are too often pushed around by the expectations of others, distracted by the meaninglessness of Google and gaming, lazy and weak-spirited. And then we become frustrated either with ourselves or with the situation around us because we are unable to make ourselves and do what we want to do. We become like the little ball in a Pong game. Self discipline is the ability to control your abilities.

Continue on. I am convinced that this faith lives in you.

God watches Facebook

My family goes to Cuba in a week to visit a church that we've made friends with. I asked them if there's anything specific they would like us to bring. The pastor said he needs a suit for official church occasions like weddings and funerals and anniversaries. He gave me his size - 34 inch waist, 5'10" tall. It's not my size, and I don't have any suits to give him anyway.

I posted the request on Facebook to see if there was anybody with an old suit of the same size. Within a couple hours I had a response.

My friend Jin is a snappy dressed Korean guy. He's friendly and generous. If there is anybody who would be dream donor, it would be Jin. And he just happened to be the same size as my pastor friend in Cuba.

I stopped by Jim's house to pick up a suit last night. He had not one, but two suits for me to take. The pastor will say thank you to me, but I'm not the giver, I'm only the delivery boy. God is the giver, in partnership with my friend Jin.

Praying for someone

I woke up at 545 this morning, wide awake.

A week ago a friend told me a story about lounging on the beach in Hawaii. All of a sudden he and his wife felt I need to pray for a friend. They didn't know it at the time, but the friend was actually in the hospital having serious surgery on his leg. They felt that their desire to pray was led by God, to aid their friend.

I didn't know what to think when I woke up so early without my alarm. But I wondered if it was a call to pray for somebody. I wasn't sure who to pray for. I thought of one friend who is having some difficulty. So I started to pray for them. And then I fell back asleep.

Was this God? I don't know. But, I suppose anytime you pray for somebody, you're interacting with, working with, experiencing God.

Learning language/conduct

1st Timothy says "Be diligent in these issues. Surrender fully to these things so that others can see that you are progressing. Watch out for your conduct and teaching. Persevere in these things, because this is salvation for both you and those that hear you." 4.15-16

I'm not very good at diligence and perseverance. I like to read something, understand it in my head, and then run off and do something else. In some ways I'm like the person that looks at himself in the mirror, realizes he forgot to shave, and then goes to work anyway. I don't consistently and persistently work on my conduct and teaching, not in a way that everybody can see my growth.

I'm reading these verses in my Spanish Bible this morning. In my attempt to learn Spanish I'm having my time with God with my Spanish Bible, & I have to translate it as I go. Learning a language is terrible work. It takes so much effort, so much time, and diligence and persistence. The only way to learn a language is to do it consistently, every day, throughout the year, and into the next year. If you try to shortcut and not put in the effort, you will learn a few words and phrases but never master the language. 

I take my spiritual growth and development the same way. I can't say that I work at it persistently and consistently, in a way that everybody can see how I am progressing. If I worked diligently at my conduct and my teaching, what a different person I would be.