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This morning I was doing some cleaning up around the back yard. This time of year we get a lot of different types of fruits that drop. If you don't sweep every day, it becomes a huge job. As I was finishing up this part, I decided to start to tackle the back yard. The grass has been growing pretty long. We are in the middle of our rainy season so the grass get pretty long. It starts to look like a jungle. So I thought what I will do, is take 15 minutes a day to work on it. It is such a big job to do all in one day and with all the little events and things happening right now to spend that much time on it would difficult. To shed some light on this aspect of my life, we bought a lawn mower with the spinning blades like we used to have when I was growing up. When we bought it, it was on sale. Any type of gas powered lawn mowers are pretty spendy down here. I believe it is because if you are going to buy a gas powered lawn mower you have to have a large amount of grass or you will be using it as a business to cut other people's grass. An average house here does not have grass. If you do have grass it is a very small amount. It is like having a house plant that you maintain. So back to my lawn mower. I started mowing and immediately started sweating. Not hard to do right now. My 15 minutes where up and I did about a 10X10 foot section. It was only a small area of our back yard. With the constant rain and the amount of grass that was cut you have to rake it up. While I was raking and just thinking to myself, about coming home from the states, and having a pair of running shoes that I picked up from a used store. I was thinking why do I think having a new pair of running shoes will help motivate me to exercise? Why do I think that having these shoes help make it easier to start running? I believe the answer to that is like so many things in life is that it all comes down to the action and taking those first steps of choosing to do something. I am reminded of the passage of scripture in Hebrews 12:11 that says: Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (NKJV)
This verse is clear that discipline is not easy but painful. Yet in our minds we believe that things will help make it easier. I am fully convinced that no matter what we have that we think it will make things easier for us, we are decieved.  We need to see things simply. Yes and no. This principle can be applied to so many areas of our lives. It is just like having various Christian books. We can a have a mountain of books about the bible and theology yet, there is nothing that can replace our time in reading and studying the word for ourselves. How many times do I say I don't have time to sit down and read the bible today, I have too many other things to do? We need to realize the discipline of reading the word will produce in us growth even if it is painful at this time. It comes down to making that choice to spend time in reading and studying the bible and not thinking that a book will heMy hope is that I encouraged you to take the time in soaking in the Word this week. I know I need more discipline.

Over the past couple of months we have been feeling like there is a need for us to have a midweek service or bible study of some sorts for the church. We had been having a men's bible study and a separate women's bible study. This past Sunday we talked about when would be a good time to have a midweek service. We decided to have it in our home on Tuesday evening at 7PM this week. We wanted to see how it would go. At 6:45 we had 5 young people show up. So began our first home group midweek service. We ended up having 14 people (including Jessie and me) all come together in our living room to worship the Lord together. We had Vicente share, who is one of the young guys we sent to bible school this past September and is home for summer vacation. He shared about Hosea and how it was a picture of the love God has for us who are unfaithful and go after idols in our hearts. It was such a blessing to me to have this group of people in our home. We ended our time with a time of prayer. I was encouraged in my faith as I know others were as well. We shall see what the Lord has planned of us for this time. We are all enjoying the fellowship.

One of the things I find myself doing is playing a type of tennis/racquetball. If I can describe to you what a racquetball court is here, it has two walls at least fifty feet high. What they call it here is frontenis. It is a variation of tennis and racquetball combined. If you have ever played racquetball it can get pretty intense. During my days of of being a young person, our youth group would rent out a racquetball facility. I learned to play and I enjoyed getting the exercise. Now, I have had some of the young guys want to play, especially Herman. We will play at least weekly if not two times a week. It is a something to do outside the box instead of doing a bible study (which I do with him at a different time).

Yesterday was no different. We went to the park that is only three blocks away from our house. At 3 in the afternoon, we have the place to ourselves. There are four courts to choose from. Each one has it's own advantages. The one we choose the one with the least amount of space you have to run to get the ball but it is also the one with the least amount of shade. So at 3 in the afternoon, needless to say I begin to sweat. The heat is the most tense during the hours of about 2-4PM. We play for about an hour. Then there is a guy in his late 50's, early 60's who wanted to play with us. We play for about 20 minutes all three of us. Then he suggests we play one-on-one. We thought sure why not. Man, was he ever good. Nothing like getting beaten miserably to keep you humble. As he beat me for the second time, I realized just what pride does to you. You think you are great, then someone comes along and does it better. How does this apply to my life spiritually? I have so much to learn. I have learned a lot in the last three and half years of being the pastor of a small church. I have so much more to learn though. This is a topic that God has been teaching me over the past few weeks. I need Jesus. With Him, I am able to accomplish what He has called me to do, which is to glorify Him as well as bring others to Him. I am dependent on Him. He is my strength. He is my shield.

Psalms 28:7 "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise him."

One more thing, I did post some of our pictures from our time home in the states.