Christina's Corner: Deep Waters

This past week, I hit a rough patch. Most of the time, I always want to fix things myself. Make things go away, shove things under the rug. The last thing I want to do is give it over to the Lord. I don't know how many times it will take me, until I give everything over to Him. I know that with Him by my side the unknown feels less scary, the pain feels less painful, and my questions are answered with His assurance. But I am me. Which means I want to put matters into my own hands and then I realize I'm not God, I am not in control, I am only human. I realized today, as I looked back on my week, for every tear I shed, for every hurt I have, there is a reason and a purpose. I may not see it now, but the Lord has my future in His hands. Everything I go through is for a divine purpose. I may go through fire and deep waters but with the Lord by my side, I won't burn and I won't drown. ---- Christina

Do not be afraid for I have ransomed you.

I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you go through deep waters 

and great trouble, I will be with you.

When you go through rivers of difficulty

you will not drown!!

Isaiah 43:1-2 

Culture Clash

To think that we have been living in San Julian for 4 months now is hard to believe. In some ways it seems like only yesterday. In other ways it seems like forever. Along the way we have experienced a wide range of emotions…joy, fear, sorrow, excitement, frustration, disappointment, hope. One of the more challenging aspects, though, is adapting to a very different culture. For me, one of the largest cultural gaps is in the thought process.

Before leaving for El Salvador I had a conversation with a dear friend who himself had been on the mission field in a foreign country for years. He told me that understanding this cultural thought gap would be a challenge for me. At the time I heard his words but I didn’t fully understand what he was trying to communicate. He said that in America we have a mind-set or attitude that we can do whatever we set our minds to do. If we have a goal to achieve or a need or a problem to solve we are confident that we can find and implement a solution. America is, after all, the home of the brave and the land of the free. It’s a country where you can rise from poverty to success if you only try hard enough and don’t give up. It’s a culture that for the most part doesn’t care where you came from as long as you know where you want to go. At least that was my experience. Here, I find a different cultural attitude. One that often says “what can I do about it – I’m only one person.” Or, “this is the way it has always been and the way it will always be.” Or, “this is just the way we do it here…don’t rock the boat.”

I drive a Mustang!

Laundry Day

Recently I was asked to teach at an all city church service on the topic of what it is like to be a missionary. The cultural experience was to be part of the discussion. But in preparing for this I had to ask myself if my own cultural thoughts were correct just because they were mine or were “American”. As a Christian, we need to ask ourselves some hard questions: What is God’s culture? What does God have to say about this or that issue? Is my thinking in line with God’s thoughts as revealed in the Bible?

Frequently when we read the scriptures we superimpose over them our own cultural belief system; often without realizing we are doing this. There is even a tendency to change or ignore what Jesus said because it is hard to understand or fit into our own culture. For example, Jesus said this to the crowds that were following him:

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple…So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:25-26, 33

As a disciple, I have been forced by these words to ask myself if I place anything or anyone above Jesus. Am I willing to renounce ALL that I have to follow Jesus? Now that, my friends, is a cultural clash!

Hear the rolling thunder!

I recently had a conversation with a Salvadoran friend and he was asking me about heaven and what it will be like. Will we eat? Will we wear clothes? Will we have work to do? These are all valid questions but they are like small planets orbiting around the sun. The center of our universe is the creator of the heavens, the Father and His Son. There will be many things to do in eternity but the primary purpose, and our greatest source of joy, will be to glorify and worship Him who made the heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water (Rev. 14:7). Later that night I was sitting up on the roof talking to the creator when a severe thunderstorm came through. Each trumpet blast of thunder rolled on for what seemed like an eternity. It was truly awe inspiring and I was reminded of the words to a hymn that includes these lines:

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displayed

 So often in my daily routine I can get so distracted by the details of life. How great it is to be reminded of the incredible love that the creator has for us. How great it is to not have our hearts troubled because He has prepared a place for us. How great it is to know that one day He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. How great is our God and Savior. Listen to the words that follow and dwell on His greatness.

The widow's eggs

Two copper coins and Two eggs

This incident happened over a month ago but I am just getting around to writing about it. We were visiting a church on the outskirts of Lourdes. The church is located in a very poor, rural colonia (neighborhood) in a gang-infested area. As I was talking to the pastor an old woman who looked like she could be Noah's grandmother hobbled up to the pastor and gave him a small bag. He took the bag, thanked her and gave her a traditional Salvadorian blessing. When I asked what was in the bag he explained to me that she was a widow who lived in a shack and did not have a job and inside the bag were a couple of eggs from her chickens. This was her "tithe" because she was so grateful to God for His blessings. Please understand that this was not something that was required of her by the Pastor or church. This was done totally voluntarily. I was so humbled by her grateful heart while living in a condition that is well below any level of "poverty" that an American would find outrageous. I have found that so often here it is the financially poor who are richest in contentment, gratefulness and faith. It reminded me of the story Jesus told of the poor widow who put two copper coins in the offering box. Jesus went on to tell his disciples that she gave far more than the rich because she gave of all that she had to live on. Please re-read this short story in Mark 12:38-44. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Christina's Corner: Rain, Rain. Oh, how I love you.

Living down here is pretty different. You never know what the day is going to bring. What's it going to be today? A power outage? No internet? No water? But I always know one thing for sure. Today is going to be hot and humid. Like yesterday and the day before that and the day before that. You catch my drift? But everyday I hope for rain. Rain does wonders. It somehow brings relief - but only for as long as it rains. So I also hope for a good long rain! Funny how living in Washington, the home of 9 months of rain and where I was so sick and tired of rain, it is when I move here that I want rain soooo badly!! It's not just for the relief that I want it but also because for the brief time that it is here, it brings me back to Washington. So for all you Washingtonians, love the rain!!! Well if you can anyway!!! lol.

                                            ~Christina

Language Learning Laughs

Learning a new language at my age is a challenge. One of my frustrations is the way that so many words in Spanish change meanings depending on the context and word placement in the sentence. With very little change in sentence structure I can say that Christina and I are eating dinner...or... that I am eating Christina for dinner. In order to keep me humble I recently read a piece on the complexity of the English language. We just assume English is easy because we are so accustomed to it. Isn't that true for so many areas in life - we assume it must be easy for others if it is for us and often have little compassion or understanding as a result? It certainly is for me. So, here is your English lesson on the word "UP".

This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is'UP.'  It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP?  Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?  We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.  We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car. At other times, this little word has real special meaning.  People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. 
And this UP is confusing:  A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.


We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.  We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!


To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of  UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary.  In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used.  It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. 

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP.  When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP.  When it rains, we say the earth soaks it UP.  When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.  One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now . . . my time is UP!

Oh . . . one more thing:  What is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night?   U     P!

Did that one crack you UP?  If you want, look UP everyone in your address book and pass this on. Or not . . . it's UP to you. Now I'll shut UP!

Economy air fare In El Salvador

I "borrowed" this from a Salvadoran friends' facebook page. 

Yet another example of how to save money when the economy is down.