Greetings All-
Below is a link to our second bi-monthly family newsletter. We tried to bump it up this time with many links inside the letter. Hope you enjoy it!
We thank God for all of you and for all of your support-spiritually as well as financially. You ALL are truly gifts from our King! May we all grow to treasure Him as supreme over everything.
Greetings to all back in the States! We wanted to provide a quick update about what’s been going on down here. We had a great, if quiet, time celebrating the birth of our Savior this Christmas season. The Guatemalans take their Christmas celebrating very seriously. They stay up until midnight, having opened all their gifts on Christmas Eve, and then at midnight the fireworks start. The production of explosives is very impressive and rivals any 4th of July show we might have. What really sets them apart is the fact that almost every type of non-commercial firework is legal here and everyone seems to have some to shoot off. The house directly across the street from us was barely visible by 1220 Christmas morning! Simply amazing.
The kids were out of school for three weeks for the Christmas break which was nice. All the neighbor kids were still on their “summer” vacation so it was nice for them to be able to play with them throughout the time. The neighbor kids start their new school year next Tuesday. We were fortunate to find a home to rent at Lake Atitlan and spent three days and two nights there. We have many pictures posted of this on our Facebook page. It was truly beautiful!
The last week of 2011 there was a team here from Tennessee and Georgia and we had the privilege of going out with them and distributing backpacks full of school supplies to kids in our programs in San Antonio Agua Calientes, San Mateo, Sempredores (a church in the city that Clubhouse has partnered with), and San Miguel. The great thing about this is the manner in which we hand out the backpacks. After serving a lunch of pizza with dessert we then set up six or seven stations. At each station there is a translator, if needed, and then we give each kid their backpack individually. We open it up, go through the contents of it with them and then finish by handing them a new Bible. For many, this Bible is the first one they’ve ever had. We then proceed to clearly and at their level (the kids are anywhere from 5 or 6 to 16 or so) give them the Gospel and then pray for them prior to leaving. It was a huge blessing and privilege to be a part of this.
A few other things are going on at Clubhouse as well. We are also about to start construction on the camp over at Pacaya. We recently met a Guatemalan man who has extensive construction experience with their methods down here who will be a huge help to us. Finally, Mike and I are about to start a class for discipling men who are associated with the programs we run. He is going to be working with newer believers and I am going to be working with the “Pastors” in the local communities.
Barb and I are getting plugged in at our local church-Union Church of Guatemala. We are teaching a Wednesday night class to young kids on the names of God and I, Pat, am beginning to teach the adult Sunday school class this coming Sunday for the next 12 weeks. We are going to be going through John Piper’s “The Burning Center” teaching. It should be great.
Please pray for the new family-Joey and CC Harris and their three children-that moved down to Guatemala on January 9 to join the Clubhouse team. Seeing them make this huge transition in their live reminds me how far God has already taken us in 95 short days to make this feel like home. They have a huge learning curve in front of them and your prayers on their behalf would be great. We ask also that you pray that our love for Pablo would grow and that all nine of us would rely upon God’s grace to not be so irked and/or annoyed by the other eight. Finally, we ask that we would continue to become more comfortable down here. Thank you. We love and miss you all!
Here is a short video of the kids opening up their stockings. We hope that all of you had a great day celebrating the advent of the God-Man!
Here is the first of what we anticipate being quarterly video updates for our home church-Grace Fellowship of South Forsyth-back in the states. Merry Christmas to all!
Here is a video of what I have so far for my home gym for those who may be interested. Notice the Oregon Ducks flag/windsock in the background. Go Ducks!
Christmastime! For many, this is the greatest time of the year. We will be able to spend time with family, give and receive gifts, and revel in and hope for this idea of all of mankind having and acting in accordance with the concept of a Christmas spirit. However, as real as all of the activities are, they are only shadows of the Substance they are to symbolize.
Christmas is the celebration of the first Advent, the arrival or coming, of Jesus Christ some 2,000 years ago. Lest we forget, His first coming had been a “long time coming” for the nation of Israel that had been waiting for the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David to be fulfilled. The first promises given to Abraham were at least 1,500 years prior to the Advent of Jesus. All of the promises given to the Fathers of Israel we hints or shadows of what was to come…the Reality or the Substance.
Initially, way back in the Garden, God reveals that the Seed who will crush the head of the serpent will be born of a woman. Many years later, through His promises to Abraham, we see that the Seed will be from the line of Abraham-the Seed will be a Jew. Later God further clarifies His covenant with Abraham by telling him that this Seed will come from a line of Kings that will flow from Abraham’s line. Then, as Jacob blesses his twelve sons at the end of his life we see that this Seed will be not from the first born, nor even from the line of Joseph, but that the Seed will come from the the line of Judah. Later, still 700 years before the Seed appears, Isaiah tells us that He will be born of a virgin, will be of little means, and will hail from the region of Galilee. It is Isaiah, also, who clarifies how this Seed will actually go about crushing the head of the serpent; or, in other words, how the Seed will be a blessing to all the world. This Seed, or as Isaiah calls him, the Suffering Servant, will bear our sins and will be crushed for our iniquities and many will be made righteous because of that!
1,500 years of promises was a long time to wait. Over and over the nation of Israel was unfaithful to her King even as God continually showered His mercy on them after their unfaithfulness. We now live in the era of the promised King….the Substance has come and replaced the shadow. Let’s remember that this Advent Season. Trees, gifts, and the Christmas spirit are mere current-day shadows of the substance which is Jesus Christ. They aren’t the reality but should point us to the gift that is Jesus Christ and the spirit of peace that He brings to all those that repent of their sinful ways and trust Him for His righteousness.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 2 Thess 5:18
Sounds great, but how do we actually do that when we don’t feel like it, when we are sad, when we don’t have what we’ve been praying for, when our lives are under duress, or when we’ve recently (or in the distant past) suffered loss?
It certainly doesn’t come by simply willing up a contrived feeling of thankfulness nor does it come by comparing our circumstances with those who are less fortunate than us. It shouldn’t even come from objectively looking at that which we have because such an act falls short of where all thanks is due.
No, at this time of Thanksgiving, we should ensure that we aren’t just thanking the King for physical blessings-those come and go and are, at best, fleeting. Instead, in light of an all-powerful and sovereign King, we should thank Him always no matter what our circumstances are. Whether you just suffered the loss of a dear one, you are living away from loved ones, or your family or work situation is less than ideal, we can…no we must…give thanks to our King knowing that our circumstance is the King’s will for our life!
Thanking our Savior does not mean that we don’t feel pain or loss. No, those emotions are very real and can even be pervasive in our lives. The Psalmist in chapter 69 expresses some of the most grim and heart-wrenching laments one could ever read. Yet even after expressing his hurt, pain, and inability to persevere in his current condition he begins to focus on the amazing characteristics of his King. He praises God for His saving faithfulness as well as the His steadfast love and His abundant mercy. At the end of his Psalm after reliving his immense hurt and pain and meditating on the mercies and salvation of the Lord David simply erupts into worship. His condition has not changed-he is still under immense duress-yet he is able to praise, worship, and even thank the Lord because of who He is!
This Thanksgiving, while you give thanks to the Lord for His blessings to you, please don’t stop at the material or physical blessings that He may have blessed you with. Rather, go one step farther and praise the King for who He is! We, as followers of Jesus Christ, regardless of whether we live under the overpass of a bridge or in a 6,000 square foot home, can and should praise Him for His mercies which are new every morning, for His sovereign power that ensures that all things happen for our good and for His glory, for His covenant faithfulness to His promises, and for His unending wisdom.
I close with the words of (not-yet King) David…
But I am afflicted and in pain;
let Your salvation, O God, set me on hgh!
I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
This will please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
Let heavans and earth praise Him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
For God will save Zion. (Ps 69:29-31, 34-35a)
We have uploaded the premier edition of the DirrimsToGo Family Newsletter for Oct-Nov 2011. We intend to produce this on a bi-monthly basis. We hope you enjoy it! May God be glorified by all that we do in our lives.
DirrimsToGo Family Newsletter Oct-Nov 2011
The Day of the Dead is a huge holiday in Latin America. It has it’s roots in ancient indigenous cultures and in it they celebrate and pray for loved ones who have already died. In Guatemala virtually the entire country is shut down and they take to flying kites-barriletes-as part of their celebration. Some of these kites are sixty or seventy feet across and require teams of men to control!! Much of the kite flying takes place in cemeteries and that is where we spent our day on Nov 1.
To start with, we followed the other students from the language school in their van with their professional driver through streets that were already extremely narrow without vendors set up on both sides and thousands of people walking through them. We did this while driving our barge….I mean 15 passenger van! If you’ve seen the scene in the movie “The Bourne Ultimatum” where Jason Bourne is chasing after the assassin (on foot) in the bazaar in Morocco then you have an idea of what the streets were like that I drove through. Literally crazy! People were staring at us and even some were communicating with us…I’m sure they were encouraging us to be safe!
The Lord was kind to us and we made is safely through the streets without hitting or killing anyone and I was able to parallel park the van. We then walked up to the main street and into the throngs. As we made our way up the hill towards the cemetery we were overwhelmed at the crowds. There must have been at least 20,000+ people in the streets and at the cemetery. As we made it to the top of the hill and into the cemetery people were everywhere and we were amazed at the kites. In order to get a better view of it all we joined everyone else in hopping up on top of one of the innumerable crypts-the whole family! There were kites everywhere and of every size. Thousands of kites of the normal size, hundreds of larger kites, tens of kites the size of cars, and five kites each that were bigger than a house. Simply amazing!
Through it all I was amazed at the diversity of culture that the Lord has graciously allowed us to see and at the beauty of the creations of the guatemalan kite-makers. It was extraordinary! However, while enjoying it all I was saddened by the reality of the situation. The vast majority of the Guatemalans there celebrating the dead are themselves already dead-in a spiritual sense. Like Paul said in 2 Cor 5:16-21 we shouldn’t merely regard people according to their flesh-Guatemalan, American, tall, short, red, or brown-instead we should view them as God’s creation alienated from Him in need of reconciliation. We should be amazed at such a merciful God who not only created us but reconciled us to Himself through His Son Jesus Christ. We, as followers of Christ who now do not have our trespasses counted against us, are called to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ. It is through us that God Himself is making His appeal to a dead and lost world!
Let’s remember to have eyes to see others like Paul did-not as people who are in the way or people who are not like us. Instead, may we have compassion on others in our neighborhood, our workplace, or our new country and may we tell them the truth about the reconciliation that they need. May we boldly proclaim the fact that God is the savior of all men, especially those who believe (1 Tim 4:10)!
The following was a blog posted by Justin Taylor a few days ago. I thought it quite powerful and wanted to share it:
Arthur Ashe, winner of three Grand Slam titles in tennis, contracted HIV during a blood transfusion for his second heart surgery. He died in 1993 at the age of 49 from AIDS-related pneumonia. In his memoirs he wrote the following insightful words:
Quite often, people who mean well inquire of me whether I ever ask myself, in the face of my diseases, “Why me?”
I never do.
If I ask “Why me?” as I am assaulted by heart disease and AIDS, I must ask “Why me?” about my blessings, and question my right to enjoy them.
The morning after I won Wimbledon in 1975, I should have asked ‘Why me?’ and doubted that I deserved the victory. If I don’t ask ‘Why me?’ after my victories, I cannot ask ‘Why me?’ after my setbacks and disasters. (p. 326)
Days of Grace (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1993), p. 290.
Compare this beautiful meditation from David Powlison:
So often the initial reaction to painful suffering is Why me? Why this? Why now? Why? . . .
[God] comes for you, in the flesh, in Christ, into suffering, on your behalf. He does not offer advice and perspective from afar; he steps into your significant suffering. He will see you through, and work with you the whole way. He will carry you even in extremis. This reality changes the questions that rise up from your heart. That inward-turning “why me?” quiets down, lifts its eyes, and begins to look around.You turn outward and new, wonderful questions form.
Why you?Why you?
Why would you enter this world of evils?
Why would you go through loss, weakness, hardship, sorrow, and death?
Why would you do this for me, of all people?
But you did.
You did this for the joy set before you.You did this for love.
You did this showing the glory of God in the face of Christ.
As that deeper question sinks home, you become joyously sane. The universe is no longer supremely about you. Yet you are not irrelevant. God’s story makes you just the right size. Everything counts, but the scale changes to something that makes much more sense. You face hard things. But you have already received something better which can never be taken away. And that better something will continue to work out the whole journey long.
The question generates a heartfelt response:
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget any of his benefits, who pardons all your iniquities and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion, who satisfies your years with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
Thank you, my Father. You are able to give true voice to a thank you amid all that is truly wrong, both the sins and the sufferings that now have come under lovingkindness.Finally, you are prepared to pose—and to mean—almost unimaginable questions:
Why not me?
Why not this?
Why not now?
If in some way, my faith might serve as a three-watt night-light in a very dark world, why not me?
If my suffering shows forth the Savior of the world, why not me?
If I have the privilege of filling up the sufferings of Christ?
If He sanctifies to me my deepest distress?
If I fear no evil?
If He bears me in his arms?
If my weakness demonstrates the power of God to save us from all that is wrong?
If my honest struggle shows other strugglers how to land on their feet?
If my life becomes a source of hope for others?
Why not me?
Of course, you don’t want to suffer, but you’ve become willing: “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Like Him, your loud cries and tears will in fact be heard by the One who saves from death.Like Him, you will learn obedience through what you suffer.
Like Him, you will sympathize with the weaknesses of others.
Like Him, you will deal gently with the ignorant and wayward.
Like Him, you will display faith to a faithless world, hope to a hopeless world, love to a loveless world, life to a dying world.
If all that God promises only comes true, then why not me?
—David Powlison, “God’s Grace and Your Sufferings,” in Suffering and the Sovereignty of God (pp. 172-173).
Ponder deeply the magnitude of what your sufferings can accomplish in spreading the fame of God. As you go through a job loss, through the loss of a loved one, through a difficult move, or through some deeply strained relationship His grace will sustain you. Have you considered His worth and value and sacrifice? If God calls you to a season (or even a life) of suffering, is making Him more famous and spreading His glory more important to you than merely the ending of the suffering? Having that mindset can only come from filling your mind up with His beauty and His worth. The Word is the window through which we look to see our Savior. Taste and see that the Lord is good!
May you feast regularly on the Bread of Life!
