Proverbs 31 Woman

I thank the Lord for the wife that He gave me in Ruth.

More love to thee

This past weekend at Grace we spoke on the love of God and how that must totally transform our way of living. The way we live with our God and the way we live with our fellow man is radically affected by our understanding and appreciation of the love of God. Oh how I love the words of 1st John 4:10 "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." How can one be "unamazed" by such words? The Scripture is abundantly clear that we do not by nature love God, on the contrary we hate Him and love our sin. Praise be to God that it was He who said, "Let light shine out of darkness and made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."(2nd Corinthians 4:6) He has made His love for us known through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. (2nd Corinthians 9:15; John 3:16; 2nd Corinthians 5:21) And what does He require of us? That we would love Him with all of our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our mind. And that we would love our neighbor as ourself. (Matthew 22:37-39 paraphrased) May we all grown in our love for the Lord and for our fellow man. Let us all take a moment and thank the Lord for His amazing love and pray that His Spirit would empower us to share it with those around us. To God be the glory in all things! "Yet while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) "Amazing love, how can it be? That you my King would die for me." Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Blessed are you when people insult you

What is the first thing to happen when someone treats us unfairly? Please note that I don't say "what should happen when someone treats us unfairly?" Many times the first thing that comes to our hearts and minds is a feeling of anger (righteous or not). We may think of defending ourselves from someone's attack. We may think of how we will confront the individual(s) responsible for such an atrocity. But what is the first thing that we should do? Pray. Pray for your own heart. (Proverbs 4:23) Pray for the person (or people) who have wronged you. (Luke 23:34; Acts 7:60) Seek to have the right attitude/outlook on things. (Matthew 5:11-12; Philippians 4:4-7)
Just upon returning from a missions conference in Santiago, I was confronted with some vicious (and totally untrue) accusations against me. Truly satanic in nature. (Ephesians 6:16; 1st Peter 5:8-9) So what was my first reaction? I sorrow to say that my first reaction was to somehow defend myself. Then I thought to go right to this individual and confront them for these blasphemous statements. I felt that I had a right reason to be upset about this. But then as I got thinking about it I realized that my initial reaction wasn't entirely worthy of the gospel. I wasn't taking the time to pray that the Lord would help me to respond in a way that would honor Him. My first reaction was to respond in a way that would leave me in the clear. The Lord is my shield, He will defend His own. (Psalm 7:9-10) My second error was that I became upset with the individual who was directing the slander towards me, when I should have been praying for him. Then came the Holy Spirit's gentle direction for me to repent of my bad reaction and attitude and to pray about the situation and the individual(s) involved. So I apologized to Ruth for having responded incorrectly (and in so doing not given the testimony to her that I should have) and we prayed. What a weight was lifted from my heart! (Matthew 11:28-30; 1st Peter 5:7; Philippians 4:4-7) And I was reminded of the reality of spiritual warfare that is going on all around us.
Praise be to God that not only have we learned a bunch throughout the past couple of days, we have witnessed the Lord minister in and through the situation for His glory. Please continue to pray with us and for us that the gospel would go out with power and that the Lord would extend His saving and sustaining grace to those who so desperately need it.

Thanks for your prayers!

OK, I can't cry over spilled milk but how about a broken coffee pot?

What an interesting day.
We got up relatively early and ate breakfast. Made it out of the house ahead of schedule and got down to the church. Then came running up to the building one of our Sunday School regulars shouting "Tio Daniel, Tia Ruth needs you at home right away. It's urgent!" Of course my mind was racing over what could have been the problem. Maybe one of the kids had fallen or maybe someone had called saying that a loved one had passed away. So I race home and do not detect any crying from the children. That was a good sign. I go in and call out my wife's name. "Ruth, what's going on?" She says, "I moved wrong and now I can't get up." Where is Dr. Shea (our chiropractic brother) when you need him?!? Eventually we get Ruth up and out of the bed to which she had crawled. Another 20 minutes pass by and we get her down to the church. By this time I am almost an hour late to pick up a family from the church. The time delay accompanied by some mechanical problems that I had with the truck make it impossible for me to bring them to church on this day. Not cool. Fortunately Ruth is able to help Tio Jorge and Tia Vivi finish up the Sunday School and get ready for our noontime adult worship gathering. The time with the adults was very edifying and we trust was well pleasing unto the Lord. We had some visitors to our gathering from Peru and the United States so we invited them over for lunch. My wife had prepared for lunch beforehand so all she had to do was heat it up. We sit down and eat and have some good fellowship over a great meal. (thanks Ruth!) "Hey, who wants some coffee?", I ask. Several respond to the affirmative. "Coming right up", says the barrista. (me) My coffee pot has this annoying thing where the coffee leaks out the side whenever it is being poured out. So in order to prevent this, I take off the plastic lid. No problem there. But when I go to put the plastic lid back on, I suppose that I did it a little too enthusiastically. The coffee pot, the glass part, cracked. Oops! Fortunately it was a clean break and no shards got into the coffee itself. Most of our guests enjoyed their coffee without knowing about the mishap. Tio Jorge heard about it and was worried about drinking glass. However his fears were relieved as I proved to him that the coffee was safe to drink by passing the "joe"first through a plastic/mesh strainer. "I will drink it now", he tells me. Ok. And he states resolutely, "I think that coffee caraffe has seen it's last action." I sadly agree with him. Throughout this time I have flashing in my mind the reaction of little Tabitha to her spilled milk several days ago. She was devestated. She wanted her milk. And now it was gone. My situation is similar to hers. I will want to drink coffee tomorrow. And now my coffee making ability is gone. But at least I am not devestated. I can live without coffee. If need be, I can buy another coffee pot. We can make so much out of the trivial things and lose sight of what truly is important. Instead of being upset about the coffee pot, I had reason to be thankful for my relationship with God, for His powerful hand upon Ruth's body (she was still able to minister in the church), for the rest of my family, and for the brothers and sisters in Christ who were here to fellowship with us. Why waste time, energy, and emotion crying over a broken coffee pot when there is so much to praise the Lord for? Besides maybe I should drink more milk. It is supposed to do the body good, isn't it? Yeah, as long as I don't spill it.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

8 years ago the Lord saw fit to gift Ruth and I with a little girl. Ruth and I were so young at the time! (29 years old) So now we are all a full 8 years older. (you can do the math)
Elizabeth has had a very full year. Only one week after her 7th birthday we left Michigan to move down here to Chile. The first couple of months were a difficult transition for her as she really missed her friends and family in Michigan. Thankfully she now has adjusted well and has made new friends down here.
There are many things for which we are thankful for our daughter Elizabeth. She is an obedient daughter and a very loving and responsible big sister to her four younger siblings. But over all of these things we, as her parents, are most thankful for the spiritual insight that the Lord has given her. Of course this has a lot to do with how well that she is doing in other areas as well. Please pray along with us for her further understanding of the Lord and His Word and that she would be empowered through His Spirit to put His Word into practice.

Crying over spilled milk

If only slow motion replay could be applied to real life. As I was walking behind the one year old milk toting Tabitha, I noticed that her shoestring was undone. "I should tie that so she doesn't trip over it", I said to myself. And before I got that thought out of my head, my big foot stepped on her untied shoelace and she and her cup of milk went crashing to the floor below. A big cry went out as she noticed that her precious drink had been so ruthlessly taken away. I was not looking forward to cleaning up the milk but knew that I needed to do it. While Tabi cried about her spilled milk I couldn't help but think about that oft-used phrase, "don't cry over spilled milk." Of course this little one would not understand my rebuke nor consolation in this matter. However it did reinforce in my mind the importance of always trusting in the Lord and focusing on His faithfulness and immutability. Whatever has happened to us has happened. We can't change it. But God can heal from whatever wound we have suffered from. What is happening right now is happening right now. We may not be able to change it, but we can rest assured that the Lord will give us the grace that we need to get through it. What will happen is going to happen. (rest assured no nihilism nor fatalism found here) We can trust that God is good and that He does all things right and has, is, and will use all things for His glory and for the good of those who love Him. So don't cry over spilled milk. If His eye is on the sparrow and not one of them falls to the ground without Him knowing (and allowing it to happen!), He knows what's going on with your milk. Just clean it up and trust in the Lord for His provision of another glass.

Beef chops and bread

We are in the waning moments of our local political race. A new mayor and seven city councilmen will be chosen tomorrow. (Sunday) Just last night Ruth and I were talking about the political process and how we would like to see things done differently. We lamented the fact that we know so little about the candidates and concluded that it sure would be nice to ask them personally "why do you want to hold this office and what makes you different from the other candidates?" So we prayed about it and went to sleep.
Early this morning I ventured out to buy some fresh bread and noticed that the butcher was just bringing in the fresh slaughter of beef. (sorry, my vegetarian friends) Sometimes it takes an hour to place your order at the butcher so I took advantage of the fact that there was only one person in line before me. So, as I am waiting for the butcher to cut up the beef in walks one of the candidates for city council. I ask him, "Don Carlos, are you nervous about tomorrow?" He responds that "no" he is not nervous, he is tranquilo. After a little bit of small talk I throw out the big question, "Why do you want to be a city councilman and what distinguishes you from the other candidates?" (maybe I could have been a reporter, but on second thought I am already a herald of the good news!) He looked a little surprised, but then gave a very good answer to my question. I thanked him for his time and paid for my beef and proceeded on to the bread store. I bought the bread and then went home. Ruth asks, "What happened? Did you go to buy the bread or to make it yourself?" Then I told her the story that I just related to you all. It is like another post that I had from the other day "opportunities". Sometimes we pray for, sometimes we wait for opportunities, and sometimes they just fall into our laps. I wanted to talk to one of the candidates and ask him (or her) some direct questions. I wanted to buy some bread. I "always"am ready to buy some fresh beef. The Lord gave me the opportunity to do all three.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)
The Lord is so intimately involved in our lives. Our God is not the god of the deist, our God is the Living God, the Maker of heaven and earth and the One whose eye is on the sparrow and how much more important to Him we are than they. (Matthew 10:29-31)

Easier than a birthday cake

Happy 37th Birthday Ruth!

Please join me in wishing my wonderful (and only) wife a very happy birthday. Leave a quick note if you get a chance. Thanks.
Daniel

This could be a postcard ("thanks for the new camera, it takes great photos!")

Opportunities

Have you ever prayed to the Lord and asked for opportunities to share with people? Maybe it is even praying for an opportunity to share with a specific person. Of course the Lord is always listening to our prayers and He answers in ways that sometimes are surprising to us. But when we have those opportunities thrust in our laps, may we also trust in the Lord's power to follow through with what He would have us to do.
Without going into much detail, today was one of those times for me. There were some people that I wanted to talk to and I wasn't sure how it would all work out. We met up on a street corner and ended up at their dining room table talking for a good while. Please pray as well for a Bible study that we have scheduled for Thursday. (Another opportunity)
Opportunities abound. May our faithfulness as well.

Where have you been?

For the last few weeks I have been off the blog radar. Truly I don't know why. I suppose I just got busy with other things and didn't take the time to write anything new. So here's a quick update....
The transportation strike is over. It only lasted about three or four days. We were at the point of running out of gas and food, but disaster was averted.
I travelled to the U.S.A. for a couple of weeks. This was a very productive time and I had the privilege of meeting up with some (but not all, sorry) very near and dear people.
I am now back in Curaco with Ruth and the kids and excited about preaching and teaching at Grace Baptist Church tomorrow morning.
Please pray along with us for our God to be glorified in and through our lives.

Strike!

For the last two days the transportation workers have been on strike. The strike is a localized one but with far reaching consequences for the people here on the island. Those who organized this strike are upset about the governments' failure to complete with the promises that it made to the people of Chiloe. Supposedly the strike will not be lifting until the promises are completed. That could take a long time. So how does that affect us? Well, think about this. In order to get to the island one must cross a ferry from the mainland. Currently the "strikers" have closed off the passageways and no trucks and/or buses can get through. There is only a certain amount of supplies (food, gas, etc.) on the island at any given time. And now there are no fresh supplies coming in. The last time that there was a strike it lasted about a week. Many things ran out, but we still survived. This time as well there may be things that we will go without, but we will survive. It is at times like this when we realize what are the things that we want and what are the things that we truly need. The Lord has promised us that when we seek His kingdom and His righteousness that all these things that we need (food, clothes, shelter) will be provided for us. But so much more have we received in Christ. Forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with our Creator. Fortunately God didn't just get upset with us because of our sins and go on strike and refuse to do anything to rectify the situation. No, He took the initiative and did what only He could do. And now that we have received His grace and His mercy, may we not go on strike but may we faithfully serve Him as we should. We can be sure that He will always fulfill the promises that He has made. So again we are taught to put our hope in God and not in men. Men may promise us the world but they won't deliver. God has promised us heaven and He will deliver. Amen.

Deep roots

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." (Colossians 2:6-7)
Those of us who have received Christ Jesus as our Lord must continue (persevere) in Him and have our roots grow down deeper in Him and His Word.
One of the first things that come to my mind when I think of deep roots is the redwood tree. Whereas I realize that it isn't the tree with the deepest roots ever (that would be a wild fig tree in south africa), it is a huge tree with very deep roots. That's what I want to be as a believer. No, I don't want to be a redwood tree, nor a fig tree for that matter. I want to be a man deeply rooted in Christ. I want to bear fruit for God's glory. (John 15:1-8) I want to be a man who encourages others to be deeply rooted in Christ. So please pray for me and for the ministry here in Curaco. May I continue to see my roots growing deeper in Christ and may those around me have the same thing happen in their lives.

The power of a single verse

Over the past several weeks we have been digging into the Apostle Peter's first epistle. This has been a real blessing for me and for the others at Grace Baptist. Today we studied 1st Peter 3:11-18 and for me the verse that really impacted me was the first part of verse 18 which reads, "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God." How absolutely powerful! As I told the congregation, in that first part of verse 18 we have the gospel. Peter had encouraged his readers in verse 15 of the same chapter to be always ready to present a defense of their faith (also known as apologetics). One does not need to be a theologian, a pastor, nor a missionary to share the gospel. One only needs to know that God is holy, all men have sinned, and that Christ died in our place on the cross and that through faith in Him we can be reconciled to God the Father. Praise be to the Name of Jesus!
Would you please pray for us as a congregation, that we would humbly, reverently, and lovingly share this life-saving and life-giving message with those in our community. And that the Holy Spirit would work through the Word to draw men and women, boys and girls into a relationship with the One True God.
I am so thankful in this day for 1st Peter 3:18. I am thankful that it is true and as a result I am thankful that God the Father has reconciled me unto Himself through His Son Jesus Christ. Lord, I lift your Name on high!

Some locked up and others set free

CNN reports that a town in Arkansas has instituted a type of martial law in order to curtail violence in there. The citizens are on a 24/7 curfew and are being told that whoever violates it will be subject to relocation to a jail cell. Interesting.
Our situation down here is only mildly comparable. On Saturday, extreme town makeover started here in Curaco. Tearing up the streets and the sidewalks. Quite a mess. Yesterday (Monday) they started to straighten things up a bit. Ours was the first side of the road that was to be "residewalked". The problem is that with the work going on, with the wet cement and all, I cannot get my vehicle out. I feel a little boxed in. But at least I can walk. And the cement should be dry by tomorrow.
The most important thing however is although I used to be a locked up as a slave to sin (Romans 6:17), I am now free in Christ. (Romans 6:18) The truth (Christ and His Word) has set me free. (John 8:32) The Son has set me free and I am free indeed! (John 8:36) I have been set free from sin. I am free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) And to the praise of God, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1) Free at last, free at last, praise God Almighty, I am free at last! And so we don't forget how this happened, may we be faithful to share this life-giving message with others (Romans 10:14-15,17), that they can be released from their prison and enter into the freedom that can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some of the brethren at Grace

A time of adjustment

A week of VBS. Ruth up to Santiago for the week to send Kristina back to Michigan. And now adjusting to the ministry with one less pair of hands. It has been a very full, interesting couple of weeks. Of course we thank the Lord for His grace and trust that it always has been and always will be sufficient as to our needs.
With the departure of Kristina (what a great helper she was!), we have had to reorganize ourselves. There are some Bible studies that we have needed to alter; I go alone whereas Ruth used to accompany me. The Bible studies that we conducted in the countryside have been postponed for a time given the fact that it wouldn't be right for me to meet alone with the women. And Ruth can now only attend half of the classes at the Bible Institute since I (as one of the teachers) need to be in attendance every other week. So we have had to make some adjustments. But so far so good. Our people down here at Grace Baptist have granted us just that: grace. They understand that there are some things that we have needed to adjust for a time and they know that our love and care for them remains a constant reality.
We thank you all as well as you pray for us and support us in the ministry down here in Curaco. Hallelujah, what a Savior we have in Jesus Christ!