The reason for the season, just don't metion His name

What I wanted to mention today was about "the holidayzation" of this "season." I did not notice it as much in Spanish last year, but now instead of "Feliz Navidad" we see "Felices Fiestas" almost everywhere which I am sure for most of you needs no help in translation. The English pattern over the years of taking the Christ out of Christmas, or just not mentioning it altogether (even airports worry about having trees decorated now?) grows and grows. Some "Christians" do not even mention it for fear of offending someone. Imagine that.

Does this anger me? Am I outraged?

No, not really. Why would we expect a culture, society, world to celebrate, maintain, or observe the same things that we as Christians do?

When I can watch Barbara Walters last night (I am sure it was a repeat, but my first time seeing it) called "Heaven: Where is it? How do we get there?" and go to many different representatives of different religions to basically pick a way to get there like many of us pick pizza from the buffet, ("oh, that one has onions, I am not a fan of onions.") should I be surprised that the world bristles at really coming close to celebrating or caring about the birth of Jesus Christ? A Christ who says the only way to salvation is through Him? That just does not compute in a society where, as Cole Porter said (and unfortunately lived), "Anything Goes."

Why do we think we live in a Christian world, one that will accept Christ, embrace Him, and love Him? Although countries like the USA might make it culturally acceptable or beneficial to be a Christian for a few hours a week, a true Christian is hated by the world.

What's that? We are supposed to be weirdos/outcasts/not the norm?

Try...
I John 3:13 "Do not be surprised if the world hates you"
John 15:18 and 19 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you"
and on in verse 25 "But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason."

So, the world hates us, what we represent now because we betrayed them. We were of the world, now we are in Christ (In the world not of the world sort of thing).

How depressing is that? Yet how uplifting! Jesus tells us this so that we would not go astray (John 16), since He knew that this hate, killing, martyrdom, etc. is/was/will be coming down the pike, so to speak.

We shouldn't expect everyone to agree with Christ, to hear and believe. We are commanded to love one another, to be his messengers/missionaries/ambassadors, to share the Gospel, and go on down the road.

When the times come when we struggle with why people do not believe as we do, why we are being picked on for being a prude, Jesus freak, or zealot, let us remember that they hated Christ when He was here, why do we think we would be any different?

The flip side of this is that it hurts...it hurts to see family, friends, "good" people not get it. There is a dichotomy there that it is not something we can force or convince people of since the Gospel is foolishness to those that are perishing, yet we are given a burning desire for those we meet that Christ would touch their lives.

That is why God is God, and we are who we are. Praise Him for His mercy, grace, and love.

And yes, in this time that we celebrate Christ's birth, let us celebrate the love for this world, a love so great as to send Jesus to live the perfect life we could never live, to die sinless paying the penalty for our sins as a perfect sacrifice.

Wow. Awesome stuff from an awesome God.

The container has landed

Those of you in the know...well, know that we packed a container from FAME (www.fameworld.org) back on October 14th for shipment here. To be brief, even for a blog, it had quite the variety of items on it, for all the various ministries we are involved in, for some friends, for other ministries we know, and even things we packed for ourselves. This container is a big one for the mission every year, and the help it provides is hard to put into words.

We finally unloaded this puppie on Friday December 15th.

Yes, two months later. There were a few variables as to why it took quite so long, the most interesting of which is that working through another ministry here that has just started, we were able to get the container through customs for almost 100% tax free. Praise God! If this system works for all the other containers we get, we would be saving $5,000-$10,000 per year in taxes.

Yes, at night. Customs here is quite the lovely process, and basically, the best plans you might try to make basically go out the window, and the next thing you know you are on the tile floor of the customs agent office taking a nap watching Frasier on the TV while you wait for the last in a string of signatures you need before you can get your shipment out. That means we got to the clinic at about 5:30, and it took a good two hours to get everything unloaded with the myriad of help we got as people passed by, heard, etc. Then the poor driver had many problems leaving (pointing out to me some key areas we need to fix before the next container arrives), and finally I had to get our "stuff" out of the area and back to our house. I was sitting comfortably in one of our "new" recliners at 10:30.

Notice in the picture at left the driver trying to carefully manuver his way into the entrance with the new wall, posts, and drop offs into the cement ditch with his long rig, long wheelbase trailer, and oh yeah, the pickup truck with 30 people passing him on the right at warp speed. Would you not enjoy the pleasures of being a semi driver in Honduras?


Now begins the long, difficult, time consuming, I-wouldn't-change-it-for-the-world, process of getting all those donated items where they need to be stored and subsequently distributed to all the areas of ministry where they need to be for the advancement of the kingdom.

Now, I am not sure how all that came across, but let me finish with....what fun! what a privledge! What a responsibility! What a job! What a country! (Insert your best Yakov Shmirnov imitation here)

The belly of the beast

Today's entry is light once again as we bring you
the latest and greatest from Honduras shopping.
What you are looking at (besides a tired Soren) is the newest Hyper Paiz (bigger and better than a Supermarket don't you know).

For years, people have asked us why Wal-Mart has not come on down to Central America. I too was puzzled, as we all know that world domination is their ultimate goal.


This week I read in a Honduras paper that Wal-Mart Central America was "expanding" its operation. "Expanding?" Yes, expanding. Apparantly although the name and style of the stores are different, they are already own 37 stores in Honduras. Little did we know.

They invested $10 million in the store you see here. And this is just a small portion of the store. Sure, it is not the size of a Super Wal-Mart, but I must admit to having a bit of culture shock just like I was back in the States when we walked in. Wow, it was still big, and it still had quite the selection. Need underwear? Furniture? Varnish? Computers? Oh yeah, food? They have it. Not all the name brands that Wal-Mart USA would have, but of course I found a Durabrand alarm clock I needed (recent electrical...uh, problems put to rest our previous ones), which as you probably know, Durabrand as it says on the box, is marketed for and distributed by...Wal-Mart.

So, you can now rest easier, or not so easy, knowing that Wal-Mart is alive and well throughout Central America.

And rest well knowing that an exciting trip for our kids is to wake up early and beat the Christmas maniac traffic to any retail store. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the toy aisle, milk aisle (chocolate milk, chocolate milk!), fruit aisle, and generally everywhere they went.

Hopefully more to come later this week with great news of a container unloading event.

Wild night on the town

Well, just when you think you have a routine, no changes, nothing new or different, then came our date night Friday.


We usually have a meal, do grocery shopping, and try to make it home after the kids are in bed by 8:00.


Yes, we are wild people.


So, as you can see by the crummy picture placed here, there were fireworks while we ate. Yes, while I looked into my beautiful wife's eyes, but also outside the window where we were eating. What were they for? Hard telling. Probably a Christmas thing, as fireworks in general are much more popular this time of year (especially by some fun loving youths just down the street from us...firecrackers...at odd times at night here lately).

And then our short trip walking over to the local mall, busy as you might find hard to imagine...a normal Friday night, nada, but go during December and expect many people, even if some of the stores close at 7:00, there were still plenty of people there.


And a new store! It did not seem to live up to its name,
but it was....something.






And, lest any night be incomplete, how about a type of refrigerator we had never seen before?
Not only did it have a TV, but the program we ended up watching was about a Christian opthamology center here in town, which we had lost track of since a move they made to another part of town. Coincidence? I think not, it is just not something we thought we would find out about while watching the refrigerator.

Another patron and her family walked by as we were enjoying the show and we collectively decided that although it looked cool... either dinner would not get prepared, or we would burn the meat on the stove while watching TV. The idea of having my recliner sitting in front of a refrigerator though was intriguing, but Valerie rightly pointed out we did not probably need a $2,500 fridge, even if it did come with an equally spiffy looking microwave. Go figure.

Another night down, and we even managed to get home by 8:30.

Power to the people

So, life on Friday was interesting.

I went to run...and it started to sprinkle, then spritz, then light rain. At first I was hoping for "cat hair" as they call it in Costa Rica, but nope, I was getting wet. No worries, just...interesting.

I got home, showered up, jumped in the car, still sweating from the run, while everyone else is in their winter jackets and gloves mind you, to get to the clinic. We were to have visitors that were to arrive at 9:00 or after. I got there at 9:10. They had been there for some time, done the official government visit they were to do to make sure we were not some fly by night place. As the clinic can not achieve flight, I was not worried. Valerie handled everything, I met them...and they left. Not good or bad, just...interesting.

Why was Valerie able to handle the visit? Not that she is not totally capable, but why did she have time? Oh, that was interesting...no power. I saw all the ENEE (electrical agency) trucks down the hill, but did not realize they cut power to the entire neighborhoods up above. No power, no exams. At least for Valerie and Camillo (the dentist). Hmmm, days like this makes us long for an emergency generator to power the clinic.

So, lest the trip be a wasted one, I still needed to talk to pastor Jorge about various items. I went up to his house, wisely remembering Friday is his day off from being in the Church office, only to get there and find out he went to the pastor's quarterly meeting in San Pedro Sula.

Trip still not wasted, I gave Leandra a ride up there, so it was an expensive favor, but one she appreciated nonetheless. You know, one of those matters of perspective. You can rationalize just about anything right? Luckily this was not rationalizing sin, so I think I am in the clear for just trying to make bricks with no straw.

So...just an example of a perfectly planned day with perfectly planned plans and activities, that change to get to do other things, like write them down for you to read for one.

Oh, and to also happen by the latest US import to Honduras....Office Depot. At last another place to buy Pringles and assorted snack items at reasonably high prices! There were other items there though that actually could come in handy sometime. It was...interesting to see.

Oh times two...the power came back to the clinic only a short 7 hours later...luckily Marlen was there, as someone left the water on. She was able to shut off the breakers lest we be out of water and a pump tomorrow.

Oh times three...we found out late this afternoon the container we are waiting on now has major fees before it will be released to us to clear customs. This was never communicated, of course, until they decided we were actually going to get it, and then they wanted their money. Long story of course, but we are praying for mercy somewhere along the line lest we have to pay approximately $2,000 just to get it here.

Is all that interesting? You be the judge. We think so. Interesting might not always be fun or cheap or enjoyable, but it is always...you guessed it, interesting.

I won't post about days like this every time they happen, but seeing as how we are just starting this puppy, and this was one of those days, it seemed like it merited entrance.

As always, blessed be the name of the Lord. After all, I can type this entry in with a smile on my face, and even if I could not, blessed be the name of the Lord.

Latest group lessons

This latest group from Christ's Church in Jacksonville Florida, coming so soon after our trip to the US helped me really get back into the swing of things here.

Although we have been doing this for a few years, we are far from experts. And although many would question the general state of my maturity at times, or all the time, short term groups are definitely a way God uses to help me along on this path...even if that means getting more mature at times.

Seeing others on this same path, at different points, some further along, others a little behind, kind of like a graphic equalizer...sometimes you are maxing out the treble while others have the bass down pat, how God uses us all to build each other up.

I often hear it said, "One does not have to go to Church to be a Christian." And while if we are discussing hypothetical situations, someone on their deathbed perhaps, then I could agree. But for the rest of us living in the regular world, I just do not see how. When we look at the Bible, and the examples of the Church, we see interdependance, living together, working together, sharing...not individualism in our relationship with God. We are not to be lone rangers out by our lonesome, but to grow together.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons groups are so dear to us...not only the Church here and the people we work with, but those that come to help bless Honduras also bless us, and hopefully they are blessed as well for having come. We learn so much from others...from seeing their reactions to life here, from their experiences here and there, and from just having fellowship with them.

Some question our sanity too for enjoying and coveting our time with groups, for putting out the welcome mat, even to three groups a month. So be it. I would not expect most people to understand anyway....but hopefully you do.