Arm Wrestling the Pastor

Some men make lousy leaders because they have a need to be liked. Some men make lousy leaders because they like being powerful. Some men make lousy leaders because their personalities are paper thin. We've all met these kind of people.

I arm wrestled a man in Tocancipa, Colombia who I think is perfect leadership material. His name is Pastor Aldo.

I only spent a few days with Pastor Aldo and several members of his fellowship, but I learned who Aldo was by observing four things about him:

1) The aforementioned arm wrestling contest. Our first afternoon in Tocancipa turned into (for the fellas anyway) a time of real mano-a-mano bonding. Somehow we all ended up arm wrestling each other, and as men typically do at such times, we became fast friends. My opponent was Pastor Aldo. I won. We laughed and hollered and shared a guy hug. Aldo had definitely earned, somewhere along the way, the respect and camaraderie of these young men from his congregation.

2) In the pulpit, Pastor Aldo was authoritative and respected. There was no doubt he was the pastor of that church. He prayed fervently, worshipped energetically and was moved by God's Word.

3) Walking to the city square one afternoon, Pastor Aldo and his wife held hands. Any man who holds hands with his wife like this without any pretense earns high marks in my book.

4) As we left Tocancipa, Aldo reached in the window of our vehicle, placed his hand on my arm and spoke a few words to us as his eyes became misty. The translation from our missionary was something along the lines of, "You will all be in my memory for a very long time." Strong man, sensitive soul.

It's always nice to find a man whose character and personality give me something to shoot for. I actually have a list of "heroes" and the longer I live, the longer that list becomes. I think Pastor Aldo has earned a spot.

Hero of Suba

At the northern end of Bogota, Colombia, the city deteriorates into a slum-like barrio called Suba. It is here that Pastor Carlos Yepes saves children. His incredible story can be read HERE (pdf) , and it's really worth your time.

I and a group of other ministers spent time with Carlos last week and saw firsthand the impact he and his wife Janeth have made there and the lives God is changing through their faithful obedience.

I've never been so humbled by someone's sacrifice for Christ. The simple faith in God demonstrated by Carlos and Janeth was simply beautiful. The young lives they nourish and nurture on a daily basis are beautiful, too.

For a few photographs of these kids, have a look HERE.

Out For A Bit . . . Try A Repost!

I shall be out of the country for a couple weeks visiting Bogota, Colombia on a short missions adventure and won't be posting (as far as I know), so you might want to click on some of the older posts linked below. Hope they're still as fresh as the day they were written!

Grain Elevators, Water Towers and Church Steeples

The Twenty-Seventh of August

Lebanese Trees

Thanks, Monkey

Russian Wisdom

Pierced Ears

Love That Will Not Let Me Go

A Little More . . .

Jennifer Knapp is a unique and creative singer/songwriter from my home state of Kansas. She was in the Christian music "industry" :p for a while and put out some wonderful music. I think, however, she didn't quite fit the mold of the time and found her way to other things. Her music is intelligent, poetic . . . and she plays a Taylor guitar. Lyrics are below the vid...



Turn Your eyes from on this way
I have proved to live a dastardly day
I hid my face from the saints and the angels
Who sing of Your glory
What You had in mind
My weakness shines show me grace

CHORUS:
A little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve
Unearth this holiness I can't earn
It's a little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve

For all the sin that lives in me
It took a nail to set me free still,
What I do I don't want to do and so goes the story
What You had in mind
What we seek we'll find, shine, show me grace

CHORUS

With all this motivation I still find a hesitation
Deep in my soul
Despite all my demanding I still find You understanding
Show me grace show me grace I know is...

CHORUS

How Could You???

So I'm reading again the story of Judah's king Amaziah in 2 Chronicles and I see a present day parallel in one poignant paragraph (random alliteration - my apologies!).

When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them and burned sacrifices to them. The anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, "Why do you consult this people's gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?" ~ 2 Chronicles 25:14-15

At first read, Amaziah's action seem positively idiotic. Then, as you sit and think about it a bit, you might realize that many believers do this very same thing (without the slaughtering part). I've seen many Christians, myself included, who find new life in Christ, freedom from sin and victory over spiritual enemies, and then cling to a favorite fleshly indulgence. This can't be far from idolatry.

What people of old looked for in their idols is exactly what we look for in the sins we wink at and coddle: comfort, security, self worth, justification, etc. I think it's basically worship at another altar as we devote a bit of the love of our heart to some sinful activity, something that is essentially the god of our enemy.

I like this story. It throws a little more light on my sin and helps me realize the twisted nature of being human. It's cold water to my tired eyes, waking me up to the fact that Christ is everything I need and that idols truly are worthless.

As Paul says in Romans 6, "you died to sin, how can you live in it any longer?"

The Faith of Children

The Sears Tower in Chicago is the tallest building in America. It has 110 floors, and the tippy-top of the antennae is 1,725 feet high. I've been on that observation deck and felt the willies, if you know what I mean.

Recently, someone came up with an idea for an even better view: glass balconies that jut out from the side of the building on the 103rd floor (that's 1,353 feet). Have a look:

These photos are obviously of children out on this perch, and I'm going to make the obvious connection with the "child-like faith" that Christ said was necessary to be a part of His kingdom. My own little ones trust me implicitly. I don't know why, because I'm far from perfect, but I certainly try to be trustworthy. The kids on these glass balconies aren't thinking about structural integrity or the thickness of the glass, they're just thinking "coooooool!"

You'd think it would be an easy thing to trust something or someONE who truly is trustworthy, like our Heavenly Father. Instead of feeling queasy and as if I'm about to plummet to my death, I want to simply believe and trust that He's got a hold of me, my sins have been forgiven, and my future is secure. I think I spend quite a bit of time dishonoring Him by not trusting Him. Might do me some good to remember Jesus' words and keep this image in mind:

For the full story and more pictures, go HERE.

Unsinning

"When I stand before the throne dressed in beauty not my own;
When I see Thee as Thou art, Love Thee with unsinning heart;
Then, Lord, shall I fully know- Not till then-how much I owe."
I recently read this short bit of verse penned by Charles Spurgeon and my heart was wrenched with longing. Now don't get me wrong - I wasn't feeling too spiritual at the time and had experienced no 'vision of rapture." In fact, I was feeling downright dirty and sinful. I felt my sinful nature clinging to me like putred pond scum.

The line "Love Thee with unsinning heart" really reverberated in my heart and mind. Some days we rejoice as we sense the perfection of Christ growing within us, and some days it's just downright hard to face down our own sinfulness. But one day what a relief we'll experience when redemption in its totality is complete!

And HERE'S a wonderful bit of Scripture to put a period on this post.