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The interesting thing about the passport problems is that we are a society that waits until the last minute, globally, in every culture probably. Now I'm not saying the government has no fault in the matter but in the same the individual has fault also. There was warning but people still waited thinking that I had plenty of time based upon the normal processing times.
Does it sound familiar to other things in life? I have time. What have you put off? For me, I can remember waiting until the last moment in school to do projects or reports and then feeling overwhelmed and somewhat stressed. But who's fault is it? I knew about the deadlines but chose to wait until the last minute. Salvation is the same way. How many people say later because they think there is time. Sadly, just as many people were unable to go on vacations this year, think of how many have died and went to hell without knowing Christ this year.
Sometimes maybe we should have some blame for this. How much time do we spend telling people about Christ? How much time to we spend exibiting Christ in our lives? Simply telling about Salvation by the way, is NOT enough nor all. We are very quick to run off on a mission trip but how quick are we to talk to our neighbours?
Sadly in these days, just as in New Testament times, we are seeing arise of "feel gooders" and their churches. Some call it apostasy and I would have some agreement there. God just wants us to feel good about ourselves....does He? Why yes but that does not mean we should when our lives are full of SIN. Sin, a word that has been watered down along with it's opposite which has become an equal, TRUTH. The truth is that our sin has caused this deception and lack of truth running rampant. Why? Because we put off today what we can do but we don't even do it the next day. We have gotten away from the truth and now the devil is using it as a tool to confuse and lie but sadly he is using other Christians to do this in these type of churches.
Why am I on a rampage? Because Tishomingo County, Mississippi, where For Thee One Ministries is located, is right in the middle of one of these possible churches coming. There is talk of one of these churches being built in Iuka. You can follow this churches beginnings to the other side of the state. What is this? It is a spiritual war to come but God has given us everything we need to combat this sickness. Prayer and the ability to tell others the truth of God. Sin is evil and bares heavy consequences...death. The Christian life is not easy and is not always a bag of smiles......it is hard, very hard. But the Comforter gives us everything we need to make it..etc.
One of our biggest problems has been the "bring them to church complex". We have been raised to think that bringing them to church is enough. This is where they will meet Christ. Yes true but no. They should meet Christ in us and we should be telling them. It is not the job of the pastor or a church building to share Christ. It is the responsibility of every individual who has ever called upon the name of Christ and received Him as Saviour. But don't stop at Salvation. Salvation is only the beginning of a life with Christ. Your testimony should not just be, "God saved me when I was little". Our testimonies should tell of the power and glory of Christ and what He has done in our lives. What storm has He carried you through? What miracle has He worked in your life? They are here and every day. When Josue and I were in the mountains, the accelerator cable broke as we were going up the mountain. By grace through Christ, there was enough momentum to pull off into a landing that was right there. Do you think this was by chance? Maybe it was the hand of an almighty God. Tell someone about the real Christ today.
I arrived in Memphis today around 4:00 without any trouble. My travels went well and I will be parked here for a few.
As I headed to the neighbourhood where I am staying, I noticed something was really different but I could not tell what it was. Finally, after a while it hit me, there was green grass everywhere. They told me that they had an exchange student one time from a desert place that had never seen grass and his first question was, "What is this green stuff?"
Miscellaneous moments or missed memories:
-when I realised that these long kilometers were miles. Something about crossing the border never struck my mind but I know 100 miles is definitely longer than 100 kilometers.
-I was also hopeful to find a Mexican restuarant to deliver to the hotel...haha, ya right. You have just about anything delivered in Mexico, not that I did but it would have been nice.
-I now understand why my friends were scared of people when they came to the United States. I was ready to leave Dallas quicker than I did.
-It is sticky and nasty here too. I want the dry heat back.
-I have to pump my own gas now.
I arrived in Dallas this evening even if it was about 2 hours and 45 minutes more than I had planned. Between rain and traffic, it added plenty to the journey. The tile is the same in this hotel and Rebito still will not walk on it.
Off to Memphis in the morning.
This is the floor at the La Quinta that Rebito is scared to walk.
This is a horrible picture of the scared dog. Sorry the camera was dying before I could get him to behave.
Well, I made it to Laredo Texas today without much trouble. During this time, I have learned two things. My dog is deathly scared of heights and white tile with coloured grout. He does not like stairs...at all and literally trembles at them and does not like going up or down in the van. Then, I noticed tonight that he would not drink or eat. At first, I thought it was because he was a nervous traveller but I soon found out he would not get on the tile.
Next stop: Dallas Texas after going to the Zone.
As I have to say goodbye to some friends here, I have thought much of Paul in the Bible. He knew many people across many different areas. Saying goodbye after knowing someone for a week does not carry as much as knowing someone for quite some time. Yet, during this time, it is exactly what I have been doing.
Today, I stopped in to see a friend, whom I have been having trouble getting in touch. At first there was very little understanding of my decision and leaving. There is so much attached but only so little I can say, which makes it hard. I thought for the longest tonight on how I could explain this without going into much detail. The night was about to end and I had already dropped off his girlfriend and was about to drop him off when the conversation came back up. He was somewhat let down and it hit me what to say.
I thought during this night why cannot I not come up with something to say besides the fact that I have to leave. The problem was that I was wrestling with my mind and my thoughts, which included emotions of worry and sadness. What I was missing was the whole night was letting the Holy Spirit lead me into exactly what I needed to say.
Though many things, many people have not understood a lot. Many have asked why would you come here, why are you leaving, or why have you not left before now? Simply, because I can truly say that in each case, coming and leaving, it has been in God's time and will, not mine nor anyone else's will. Have I done everything according to His will?...no, but in our mistakes we learn. I have not regrets and cherish every moment that I have had. I have had a blast.
We made it home Saturday night without too much trouble. We broke down a couple of other times but we made it.
I want to let everyone know that I will be leaving on July 22. It is time for some time off and to figure out the next phase of everything. I thank everyone for their prayers and support and I will keep you updated with what is going.
During our travels this last two weeks my van has experience a toasted regulator, bad starter, two cracked heads, and a broken throttle cable. I was supposed to have left Hermosillo on 30 June but the van was being check on in the shop. One day turned into several and we finally left yesterday even after being delayed again as we had to turn around and have a leak checked. We had a stopover just south of the U.S. border. This morning we set out and as we were going up a mountain the throttle cable broke. As we look back we see how God was completely in control. There had just happened to be a landing and we still enough velocity to pull off into a pullover...which was definitely more than a coincidence.
A truck driver helped us get the van temporarily going (as we were also in the middle of nowhere) and we drove another hour to a city where I would get the cable replace. We after a while the man came back and said that they did not have parts and it would be tomorrow around 11 or 12 before it would be ready and that it would cost 300-400 pesos. About an hour after we had eaten supper and checked into the hotel we received a call that the van was fixed. Of course we had already paid for a room but at least we get to leave out early.
The team and everyone else left on Saturday and Josue and I are hanging until my van is fixed. If you did not know, it died on the way here. I got the official diagnosis today, 2 cracked heads but all is good and we hope to be able to leave tomorrow.
In other news and glory to God, the church is already seeing the blessings of the project. On Sunday, they had several new families come to church and also, one of the sisters came by today and told me that she had a Bible study with a family that had requested to have a Bible study. One of the ladies in the Bible study had also accepted Christ.