Unexpected Happenings on a Sunday Evening.

I had a a pretty busy weekend, and honestly, I was glad.  I had been doing a lot of sittting around, and it was good to have get a break from doing nothing.  It involved a lot of running around, social gatherings, work, church, and not getting a whole lot of sleep.  I remember thinking to myself, "Ironically, I like it better this way." 
  But Sunday during church, I experienced an interesting turn of events.  Half way through the preaching, I began to get a terrible headache that eventually became a migraine.  Allow me to set the scene: the church building has about 50 or so people, and it it steaming hot, even though it´s eight o´clock at night. I realized that this was the kind of headache that leads to vomitting (unfourtunately, I have had migraines like this in the past).  But, the good thing about being sick at church, is that everyone cares for you.  However, sometimes it´s hard to feel the love when it feels like someone is driving a steak into the right side of your head with a sledge-hammer.  Eventually, we went home.
   On the way home, the aforementioned up-chucking came to pass (about 9 pm).  I proceeded to go to bed and try to sleep.  The events that followed where like clock work.  I vommitted every hour on the hour until midnight.  There was much talk and discussion and phone calls, regarding a trip to the hospital, but none of the talk materialized.  I just went to bed.  When I awoke, I felt much better. 
  The only problem was that it was 4 am!  So, I just laid in bed and felt happy to be alive.  I thanked the Lord that I was feeling so well.  Then, I was hit with a stunning realization: Every day last week, I hadn't been able to get to sleep until 3 or 4 in the morning, and it made me angry.  I would lay in bed and just be mad, because I wasn't asleep.  But this time, I was thankful.  I was amazed at how just a little perspective change can make a curse into a blessing.   Around 5 o'clock, I drifted off into a thankful, peaceful sleep.  Things I needed to learn on a Sunday evening.

Things that Matter

Yesterday, being Thanksgiving, I decided to make a list of things for which I was thankful, just to stay in the spirit of giving thanks. I mean, I had already watched two football games, I figured I should carry out some other traditions.  It was a fairly generic list (family, friends, God's provision, etc) But, eventually, I did put some serious thought into it.  I realize that in someways, it was a type of exit interview for this trip. (I can hardly believe that I only have two short weeks left.)

  "So that was cool or whatever," said my soul as I picked up the Bible.  I'm currently reading through Romans, and last night I was reading chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 3 verse 23 is pretty familiar, but 3:24 hit me like a ton of bricks, "...being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;"  I said, "Wow, really, Will? You just wrote a list of 16 things you were truly thankful for and not once did you mention your salvation."  To be honest, I was ashamed of myself. 

  These last several days I have been so obsessed with pondering life, love, legends, and lands far away, that I had let the greatest gift slide into my peripheral vision.  I needed to be put in my place spiritually, taken down from my high horse where I think that I am the only person in the world.  In the grand scheme of things, how important is what I do next year? In light of eternity, am I doing things that matter?
  Ladies and gentlemen, we are only about 35 days from the year 2012.  I have no idea what that year may hold, and in many ways, it does not really matter, my eternity is secure. 

 Is yours?

Life on the Edge

  My friends Ronae and Chrs wanted to visit the slums of Buenos Aires.  They were kind of determined to go but had run into some dificulties because Argentines don´t do that kind of thing.  Of course, I said I would help them.  We knew it was dangerous because everyone said it was.  But, we were not detered.  Taking my advice, Ronae asked a friend from church what if perhaps he could help us.  Within a few days, we had a date to go the most dangerous slum (villa in Spanish) of Buenos Aires.
   The guy we asked has a been a pastor/missionary for many years, and I figured that he would have some contact or something on the inside.  When we met up with him, we found out that he had never darkened the inside of the slums.  (Insert comforting feelings.)  So he asked around about the safety of this area, and a polieman told him, "It´s your [censored]"  (That was encouraging...).
  So, we had one Latin American and 5 Yankees taking a merry trip to one of the most dangerous places in Buenos Aires, don´t worry, we left our valuables at home.  Originally, we weren´t going to go in, just walk around the edges, but, as usual, curiousity prevails.
   We were on the outskirts of the villa, and our friend asked a man walking by if he knew about a church anywhere.  This guy lead us to the church several blocks away. I was amazed by the beauty of the church on the inside.  Outside was the slums, but on the inside was a really nice space: new tile on the floor, projectors, laptops, instruments, and sound systems.  Granted, the other half the auditorium was not finished and still had a dirt floor, but the half that was done looked great.  The people were very nice and told us that they recieved no government help, and that the building was built and paid for by the people of the church, little by little.  They invited us to the prayer meeting that night, but we were not going to stick around until dark.  (We may be dumb enough to go to the slums, but we had no intention of being there without our friend the daylight). 
  We continued a little ways to a big open area.  It was a paved soccer court where about 16 or so guys were playing soccer.  Of course, they all had some kind of jersey, I saw a Barcelona one, and there were other European teams represented.  There were also a few volleyball nets with people playing.  It was as if we were in world inside the world.  This community seemed to have nothing to do with the train station 1/4 mile away, or highway only 70 feet above us. 
   The little house stacked on top of each other, each person with their own life.  It was charming, in its own little way.  People selling grilled meat on the street, occasional cars trying to get through the on the narrow street.  Most people think I´m crazy when I give this description, and maybe I just wear rose-colored glasses.  But, I just get tired of people talking so terribly about these places, not to mention the judgemental attitude toward me, when I tell them were I went.  A lot of believers forget that there are real people there with real needs for Christ.  All they is a place where two squard cars have to accompany an ambulance in an emergency.  I´m not trying to judge, but don´t think that I´m not tempted.
  Don´t take this the wrong way, I´m not trying to minimize the danger or the reality of life. But sometimes, as believers; I think that we need to let that stuff go in order to focus on what really matters.  

My Upbringing

  I talk quite a bit formative years, and those of you who have spent a lot of time around me hear "when I was raised" several times in a conversation.  Part of the reason for this is that the older I get, the more I realize how handy the things that I have learned are.  It makes me very thankful for my parents and other role models that I have had in my life.  But, more importantly, it is a blessing to look back and see that God clearly has had a plan for my life. I remember times that I thought how much better my life would have been had certain things not happened.  (I've been known to contemplate my hypothetical life without Mexico in my past, or without the leaving of Mexico, and as one can imagine, the possibilities are close to endless.)
   No matter what my feelings may be at any given time, I know that I can rest in His perfect plan.  If I were the begin to list the miracles that God performs in my life, I wouldn't have time to finish.  There is no way that I would have gotten to were I am now without the intricate past that God has been weaving for the past 19 or so years.  And that's just my life, I don't know your story.  Grace College's theme last year was "Authored" referring to God's role in our lives.  I am blown away by what has been/is being written in His story that just happens to include me.
  I owe my formation to the Lord and to all the people that He has used along the way.  None of my plans could ever add up what the Lord has for me.

"All the doors that I had to close

All the things I knew but I didn't know

I thank God for all I've missed, 

Cuz it led me here to this." 

- Darius Rucker 

(this maybe a love song, but it still fits.)

 Psalm 143:5-6:
 I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your doings;
I muse on the work of Your hands.
 I stretch out my hands to You;
My soul longs for You, as a parched land.
                         Selah.