Time and again the Scriptures call us to remember, to call to mind what God has done in the past. Just yesterday we crossed over the five-year threshold of our time here in Mexico, and I thought it would be good to take time to remember what God has done in those five years – good for ourselves and, I pray, good for you dear reader.
Continue reading “Five Years and A Day”A Friday in March
As I stood in the doorway, ready to leave, my wife asked me: “Are you bringing Jonatan to the rehab place today?” “That’s the plan,” I replied “but we’ll see what happens.”
My wife smiled a knowing grin.
Continue reading “A Friday in March”How to Be Clean
Any reader of the Bible knows the experience of reading through the book of Leviticus. Compared with the flowing narratives and fascinating character studies of Genesis and the first half of Exodus, Leviticus reads slow and sluggish.
Continue reading “How to Be Clean”Ode to Ofelia
She was always smiling. That’s what I’ll remember about her.
She lived just down the street from our ministry centre so it didn’t take me long to meet her and strike up a conversation. After that, I would see every week, usually several times a week. I’d smile back at her and wave, or stop by her doorway to talk a bit.
Continue reading “Ode to Ofelia”Dust and Dirt and Dung
Life in this sin-broken world is not always pretty. Dirt gets in our eyes, under our fingernails and behind our ears. Dust settles on every surface and collects in our lungs. Germs and bugs and viruses attack our immune system. Our muscles ache and stomachs vomit. Bread moulds and meat rots. Mice live in our walls and cockroaches in our cupboards.
Continue reading “Dust and Dirt and Dung”Sowing the Seed
Into the Field
Mission in Mexico is a relatively new missions endeavour. My family and I have been on the field for a mere four years and our current ministry in the Santa Barbara neighbourhood was started less than two years ago. Much of our work is focused on sowing the seed – outreach and evangelism. If a metaphor is useful, we’ve just stepped into a field of dry, crumbly dirt, dotted by weeds and rocks (kind of like the actual fields we see around here). Taking a handful of seed, we scatter it about, not knowing what will happen to it.
Continue reading “Sowing the Seed”10 Books I Read This Year – 2023
- Daily Life In Palestine At The Time Of Christ – Henri Daniel-Rops
I’m not sure where I got this book, but I’m always interested in books about life in Bible times, so after sitting on my shelf for years, I finally freed it from collecting dust and gave it a read. It is a long, detailed, well-written book about Jewish life in the time of Jesus. I really enjoyed it, although it took time and discipline to get through because of its length. There are probably better, more accessible books out there on this particular subject, but this was a book I already had in my library, and all in all, it was a worthwhile read.
Continue reading “10 Books I Read This Year – 2023”For Joseph
It’s quite the crazy trip
how my life has changed so quick
With just a little flick
he rearranged my script
He mixed in Divine
then fixed all my lines,
made it fit with His rhyme
and I‘m just a blip on this line
but here I sit in His shine
with a child Divine
in these arms of mine
Sends chills flyin’
up and down my spine
I can’t comprehend but I’m tryin‘
and I find
that my mind
is inclined to rewind
to reminisce
at a time like this
that‘s momentous
to find the signs and what’s behind
this moment that‘s defined
By the moments behind
that exists intertwined
up and down a timeline
like a vine as it climbs
turning time that is mine on a dime
as it is designed
by a mind that is Divine
the One that is there through all time
‘Cause My God is near and never far
He’s here and where we are
whether dream or whether star
He was right there at the start
in the dark and the rain
when life got hard
and it was hard to explain
in regard to the pain
and who’s to blame
My head told my heart,
if your smart, to depart
‘fore that spark became a flame
and the scar of shame
put a stain upon her name
plus our families just the same
So again, who‘s to blame?
and how it came?
I don’t know, I can‘t explain
so I can‘t remain
I insist, I must dismiss
or this will persist
like the mist
this gossip that sits
on the tips of lips
as it drips it rips
sinking ships
with the truth it flips
‘cause words bruise like a fist
It’s amidst all of this and its noise
as I sit poised
That the LORD deploys His voice
Came down to change my choice
There I was as I am
footsteps in the sand
with three days to span
and I`ll be the man
holding the hand
of the mother mild with the child
making miles in the wild
to the south of this land
by the mouth of a man
‘cause God’s command
is Caesar’s demand,
is part of the plan,
I’m part of David‘s clan
so it‘s back to Bethlehem
and understand
I’m doing the best that I can
to stand
to stay strong with a smile
every mile of this trial
and all of the while
like a child
I’m reaching for the hand of I Am
‘cause He is who He is
and these plans are His
I’ll take truth of You as fact
with a view of you intact,
but it really only matters
what you do with that
and how you act
when you walk through black
or flew in blue through flak,
got bruised all blue and black,
fell down flat on your back
calling “God where you at?“
When mishaps start to stack,
How do you react?
And so I chew on that
as we rendezvous on back
by way of avenue,
that track,
that path into my past.
They pass, en masse to amass
to the task that he ask
to sign up as a stat,
but we back in the back
with the last of the pack
and that dot on the map
is packed.
Now add, subtract
Just do the math.
There‘s not a room in this inn
and she‘s due soon to begin
time is thin on the slim
so in the dim of the spin,
on the brim
I am down on a limb
with my hands as a hymn
and I sing from within
calling out to Him
like I’m sitting at my Master’s feet
where I plead for all I need
to be
the man He asks of me
‘cause in the last few weeks
my life has changed so drastically
into the way it has to be
Now should I fail to trust
your hands steadfast on me
and turn away now passively
then let your love chase after me
that I would turn and face the task I see
What I see tonight
in this moment that is passing me
is a manger filled with majesty
And as for me, I`m centre stage
in this role He cast for me
and in my arms
the only hope for all humanity
to save this world from its catastrophe
So LORD,
one more time I’m asking please
pour out your blessings lavishly
that I might be the father that you ask of me
Help me to complete this task
this lease
and play this tiny part inside Your masterpiece.
~ 2012
Facebook reminded me of this poem I wrote eleven years ago for a young people’s Christmas dinner. With the poem, I wanted to step into the shoes of Joseph and imagine what was going through his mind as the events of Christ’s birth, his son, were taking place. We don’t know much about Joseph, which just goes to show that God didn’t write the Bible to feed our fantasies and give us compelling individual narratives. We don’t know much about Joseph because he is not the main character.
But perhaps the little we do know says all we need to know. It is not hard to imagine a scenario where Joseph politely steps out of the story and claims innocence of any wrongdoing. That is what he was going to do. But God stepped in and spoke and Joseph believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Joseph was a righteous man we are told, and what he did was righteous. He committed himself to Mary and to God’s plan for his life, as disruptive as it was. That is what I find compelling about Joseph, and I hoped to capture that in the poem I wrote.
The Man Up The Street
I’d seen him walk by a few times in the past weeks. Apparently we was living up the street with Manuel. Today, he stopped, took a hesitant step forward and then asked if he could come in. I closed my laptop and rose to greet him. His name was Francisco.
“Would you like to sit down?” I asked.
“Sure.” He took a seat opposite me at the plastic folding table where I had been working. His tired eyes took a quick survey of the room. He looked like a man with a burden.
Continue reading “The Man Up The Street”The End Is The Journey
It’s about the journey, not the destination. This is good advice for a road trip, or life itself in a very general sense. Don’t get so caught up with where you are going that you miss the merit of the present moment
Of course, if I am on my way to Walmart to buy groceries, then my trip is about the destination, and the traffic during the journey is just getting in the way. Or if I am going to my parents’ house, the drive over has its own beauty, but at some point, I do actually want to arrive at their house.
Continue reading “The End Is The Journey”