The Dash!

The Dash!

An invitation was extended for me to join a family that morning on their journey to “Centro.”  Centro, as I learned, is a huge area (about the size of 4 football fields) in the middle of the jungle, which was burned and mostly cleared in order to provide garden areas for the people of the community to use for growing crops: bananas, pineapple, corn, manico, etc.

  Just as soon as you think you are in shape, take the hour and fifteen minute hike on the jungle trails to get to this place, and you’ll quickly think again.  (And the family I went with, did this hike barefoot!!!)


       The journeying process was interesting.  The father went ahead of us – the mother, 3 sons (ages 1, 2, and 5) and I – to a point where we could not see him.  This was for protection reasons.  The father and mother “cooed” (like owls) back and forth every few minutes.  The coo would come from the father and then the mother cooed in response, to let him know that she heard his coo and understood the direction of which he was in, so she knew which trails to take for us to “follow” him.



At one point, while the mother was cooing, breastfeeding the 1 year old, and talking to me (multi-tasking at its finest), the mother took off in a full out sprint!  Baby attached, off she went, with 2 kids and myself trying to keep up.
After our 100 yrd. dash, I just had to ask what in the world that was for (other than to further remind me of how out of shape I am compared to those here in the Amazon).  Her reply: “The castanha; they kill people.”  She then explained that the falling castanha (a huge nut with 10 – 15 smaller nuts inside) fall from such a height that when they fall on a person’s head, it kills them.  

     For this reason, when they get to “castanha row” they sprint through this area, in order to lessen their chances of getting hit by one of these life-stealing nuts.

     This journey gave me a good spiritual reminder… Am I as cautions with my spiritual path as I am with these kinds of trail paths in the jungle, always on the guard for spiritual dangers and seeking the Holy Spirit's guidance to avoid them?  

     It's easy to just live life and go on with our day without putting as much prayer and consideration of the Holy Spirit’s guidance into our steps as we should.  When we don't follow Him, it's easy to trip, fall, and/or get hit in the head by a big "nut," spiritually.

Galatians 5:25 says, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” and Psalms 37:23-24 says, “If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumbles, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand.”

Stand Out today by following His steps, 

which will lead you down God's perfect trail. 

Proverbs 16:3 “Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.”

Cake!

Some Cake

Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

As I was walking to a friend’s house for Bible study, I heard a familiar voice holler from across the field: “I want some cake!”  Having nothing but my Bible and a bowl of rice in my hands, I didn’t give any attention to the Chief's proclamation for cake.   I continued walking.  Again, I heard him yell two more times, “I want some cake!”  This time, I turned to see who he was yelling to, because honestly, by this point, I too wanted some cake; but there was no one but he and I walking along the paths of this field.

I stopped walking so he could catch up to me.  As he approached, he again said, “I want some cake.”  “Sir, I’m sorry, I only have a bowl of rice and a Bible, would you like some rice?” I offered.  Then I thought, “Lord, is this a water-to-wine moment?  Do you want me to do a miracle in Your Name and turn this bowl of rice in to a cake so our Chief’s cake-craving will subside?”  The Spirit didn’t move me to do such a thing.

“Oh, sorry my daughter,” he said. “I thought you had cake, and all morning I’ve been wanting cake.”

After Bible study, I came back to my room and remembered that I had a present, which a dear friend had given me.  I opened it and wouldn’t you believe it… it was a small cake! 

CAKE! Instantly I heard those words repeating over and over in my head: “I want some cake!”  I chuckled a bit, knew God was up to something, cut off a few pieces for our dear Chief, and headed to his house.  As I approached, cake behind my back, he had the most inviting smile on his face.  I presented to him the pieces of cake and he just about came off the front porch in excitement.  He then said, “I am so glad you came by, I have something I wanted to talk to you about.  Please sit next to me.”  Eager to hear how God was connecting all these cake-dots together, I sat down, ears wide opened.

For the next hour, the Chief of our community shared with me how he encountered God, in a whole new way.  The night before there was no sermon preached to him, no verses of scriptures read; not even a missionary or pastor present at the time, but in the privacy of his own home, he and his wife (who had already accepted Christ as her Savior, with me a few months prior) lifted up some miraculous prayers to God.     

For our Chief, it all finally clicked.  The “Light” came on.  God flooded this man’s head and heart with thoughts about his community and his life, which brought him to his knees in order to find his Savior. 

No doubt, pray warriors, your prayers made this happen.  Nothing else could explain the private encounter which our Chief had that night with the Lord.  Whoever you are, however you were praying, fasting, and petitioning our Precious Savior, on behalf of our Chief’s salvation, Thank You!  With tears of joy I exclaim to you, THANK YOU! Once again, your prayers made the difference.

Stand Out today and share your testimony 

and a piece of cake, for eternity sake.

The Voice

The Voice

As many of you know, I have a pet monkey.  For those of you who don’t know Nicco yet, let me give you a brief introduction of him now: 

Nicco is a 10 month old spider monkey that I bought for about $12.00 in a city nearby the community where I serve.  I got Nicco when he was only about 4 months old and he’s been a wonderful companion.  Nicco goes free in the community and comes in and goes out of my window as he pleases.  During the day, he swing in the trees, eats insects, and play with the kids.  At night, because he is afraid of the dark, he is in my room and in his little hammock, asleep by 7:00pm.

Nicco and I have a system.  Whenever I call Nicco’s name, he knows that means his “momma” has a banana for him, so he calls back to me - he lets out a couple of loud squeaks to let me know his whereabouts. We continue the “calling system” back and forth until I am close enough to his location for him to make a bee-line for my arm, to sit there and eat his banana.

This last week, something came over me and I had a terrible head and chest cold.  One day, after coming back from my normal morning house visits for devotions, I, like always, called for my little Nicco.  No response.  I called again and again.  Still, nothing.  A bit worried that someone might have decided Nicco would make a good, fried side-dish to their lunch, I asked a couple nearby children if they had seen Nicco.  They took me to the tree he was joyously swinging from branch to branch and eating insects. As soon as he saw me, he ran for my arm and ate his banana.

Then it hit me...  My voice doesn’t sound like my normal voice because of this illness.  Nicco didn’t know this voice that was calling for him, therefore, he didn’t answer it.  


The same is true with us and God.  Once part of the family of God through salvation, we become sons and daughters of God.

1 John 3:1a “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”

In John 10:4b - 5, Jesus refers to His own as “sheep” and says, “His sheep follow Him because they know his voice.  But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”  Nicco didn’t call back to me the other day because to him, my voice was that of a stranger.  

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we know our Father’s voice.  It’s not strange to us.  Any other voice you hear inside your head is that of a stranger – a deceiver – an evil one; RUN from this voice!  Don’t listen to the words of guilt and lies surrounding a situation you know you have already been forgiven from! Don’t believe the self-condemning words that are whispered in your ear!  You are a child of God, and he speaks good, encouraging, productive words for His loved ones to hear.  Don’t listen to the voice telling you to do something or say something you know does not line up with the Word of God.  Run, Run, RUN away from these strange voices and run in to the arms of your Father, the Good Shepherd, whose voice is distinguishably better than any other.

Stand Out today by tuning in to hear Jesus calling your name.