Number the Stars

Psalm 147:1-5

 ¹Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God;

   for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

² The LORD builds up Jerusalem;

   he gathers the outcasts of Israel.

³He heals the brokenhearted

   and binds up their wounds.

⁴He determines the number of the stars;

   he gives to all of them their names.

⁵ Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

    his understanding is beyond measure.

Tonight, when I got home from dinner with friends, I stopped in the driveway to look up at the stars.  They're beautiful, and farther away than I can even understand. God, my great God, created these giant stars that are so distant, and yet still give us light. He gave each and every one of them a name.  The universe is so vast, that we can't even measure it, and yet, God can measure it in his hand.

Isaiah 40:12

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, 

or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? 

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, 

or weighed the mountains on the scales 

and the hills in a balance?

When I think about that, it puts my own worries in perspective.  God is powerful.  He is way bigger than we comprehend.  There is NOTHING he cannot do, nothing that is too hard for him.  My worries are revealed for just what they are- sin.  Why do I worry?  My God has promised to supply all my needs (Philippians 4:19).  He has promised never to forsake me (Hebrews 13:5).  He has promised to guide me (Psalm 32:8).  How do I ever dare doubt that God can or will provide for me?  Why do I ever feel the need to take care of myself?  God is not even phased by my problem.  He is not confused by how to deal with it.  He placed the stars in place.  He does not need my help for anything, and I can trust him completely.

I watched this video yesterday and recommend it.  It begins to give you a glimpse of just how amazing, unfathomable and indescribable our God is.  Watch parts 2-5 as well if you have the time.  

Flowers of Costa Rica

I love to photograph flowers. They hold still, unless it's windy. They don't complain if you want to take multiple shots of them. And, generally speaking, my camera does an excellent job with close-ups. So, here is a photo book I made of some of the flowers I photographed while in Costa Rica.

Click here to view this photo book larger

What next?

Bogota, city of 7 million

 

City of the ciclovia, where 70 miles of city streets are shut down every Sunday as cyclists take to the streets.

City of the Transmilenio, an innovative bus rapid transit system

City of Rock al Parque, the biggest rock concert in Latin America

The city where the Lasix technique was invented.

But Bogotá is also a city where an average of 23 families who have been internally displaced showed up every day between 2001 and 2006.

It's a city where 1,886 street children were counted in 2006 and another 3,326 were working on the streets.

It's the city where Formando Vidas is working to change kids lives forever.

It's the city where I'll be headed in February, to join Formando Vidas for the next 2 years in the work they are doing. I'll learn through their Children at Risk school how best to serve children in difficult circumstances. And then, I'll serve them. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me there.

I'm home

I got in last night around 7.  It's still hard to believe that the people I spent the last 5 months with are no longer around.  I miss them.  I also miss Spanish.  Every once in awhile I say things in Spanish without thinking about it.  I've almost thrown my toilet paper in the trash instead of flushing it several times already.  I was seriously grateful for my hot shower with good water pressure this morning.  I can't believe the options there are in our refrigerator.  I loved being cozy in bed under a mountain of blankets against the cold, instead of waking up to the cool morning air.

Having my brothers and sister around makes it less lonely and difficult than it would be without them.  They keep me smiling and laughing with their jokes and compliments.  It's so good to see how much they too have changed and grown while I've been gone.  I'm so excited that I get to spend more time with them over the next month and a half. 

10 reasons I'll miss Costa Rica

We call ourselves “La Familia Rara”, the strange family.  After living together 24/7 for the last 2 months, we truly feel like family.  We have our own traditions- a song we sing for grace while holding hands, a special DTS handshake, and the way we end prayer times with a group huddle and “uno,dos,tres, JESUS!”. We have our own inside jokes (just say “fuego” and see what happens, or ask one of us to finish the phrase “donde yo voy. . .)  We tease each other and sometimes we drive each other crazy, but mostly, we love one another. 

Alex- We’re alike in so many ways.  We even find ourselves saying the same thing, at the same time, with the same inflection.  It drives Alex crazy, but I think it’s funny.  She always encourages me, notices when I’m not feeling great, and asks me how I’m really doing and makes me answer.  She also gives me great hugs.  Her desire to draw close to God, and the ways I’ve seen her work on overcoming her own fears during this DTS are awesome.

Anna- has an infectious laugh and the largest repertoire of cartoon voices and fake accents of anyone I know.  As the third youngest person in our group who is also one of our group leaders, she constantly impresses me with her maturity and ability to lead.  Her passion for God and to draw others into a passionate relationship with him is a blessing.

JT- is such a servant leader.  His humility and habit of being the first to volunteer for anything we need inspire us all.  JT’s ever-optimistic predictions of what the next day holds (5 star hotels, catered food, swimming pools) always keep us laughing.  JT is so hungry and willing to grow spiritually and has grown so much during this DTS.  He and his wife are also expecting their first baby, a son, in April!

Katie- is generous and loves to share.  She’s a Bible scholar- her love of learning and digging deeper into scripture and the things of God make me want to read more non-fiction.  Katie is honest about her own struggles in ways that encourage me to be more open.  You can also always count on Katie to make you laugh.

Lito- is a really good listener.  As our only male leader, and the fact that he’s known for being serious and reflective has earned him the position of the honorary “father” of our family.  He also has a goofy side though and I love the way he’s able to not take himself too seriously.

Luis- We all expect him to be an evangelist or a Pastor. Luis impresses us with his natural preaching ability, and the way he can approach perfect strangers and easily start a conversation about God.  His smile never fails to make me smile in return and his craziness makes us all laugh.

Manny- is my biggest help and encourager with Spanish. He’s not afraid to correct my mistakes, but he also notices when I’ve learned something new.  I love talking to Manny- he’s really animated when he tells about something that happened to him, and he’s always willing to listen to my stories.  He’s really striving to hear and obey God’s voice.

Reanna- is everyone’s little sister.  I love her exuberance.  Her Panamanian phrases and excitement over little things make us smile.  The freedom she has when she worships God and her love of prayer and willingness to pray in public encourage me to be more like her. 

Rebeca- reminds me of a princess with her femininity and grace.  She’s always friendly to everyone and has an ability to make people feel loved.  Her desire to serve God is evident in her life, and as the youngest member of our group it’s really encouraging to see someone so young who is so dedicated to following God.  I can’t wait to see how He uses her.

 

Rossela- is the wisest one in our group.  She is good at giving hugs, encouragement, comfort, and advice.  She loves to rejoice with us.  Just being around Rossela makes me happy.  We love to teach her new random English expressions like “gee golly” and “let’s blow this popsicle stand” so we can hear her say them in her amazing accent.

Free Hugs

This past week we've spent in Monteverde, a tourist hotspot in the cloud forest of Costa Rica. If you've heard about Costa Rica's ziplining tours, this is where they were born. It's also a good spot for tours of coffee plantations and hikes to see some of Costa Rica's amazing biodiversity.

We're not here as tourists though. Being a gringo in a tourist town, but not being there to do the usual tourist things is a bit unusual. In most of our other destinations the local church we worked with had our time booked with church services, youth activities, school presentations, and manual labor projects. Not so much here in Monteverde. We've had our fair share of church services and activities with the youth, but there is also a lot of time to be creative and reach out to the locals and tourists.

The downtown center of Santa Elena (where all the tour booking offices are, as well as more restaurants, bars, bakeries, hostels and internet cafes then I've seen in one place before) is very small, so we decided to make it our center of operations. One day we split up into groups and picked up trash. Another day we brought along a guitar and sang praise and worship songs by a fountain. Several people came over to talk to us and a guy named Chris from California even took a turn with the guitar and played "Better is one day in your Courts" for us. We started giving out free hugs too, which opened doors for more conversation.

While we were singing and hanging out, we noticed all the taxi drivers just watching us and decided it would be fun to do something to bless them. So, Friday night we cooked a big batch of rice and a pot of beans, and Saturday morning I made gallo pinto. All of us went into town, to give out gallo pinto and more free hugs. The free food opened lots of doors for conversation. There was a group of university students there interviewing foreigners for an English exam. I got to chat with one of the girls for quite awhile and shared about what we were doing and why.

The plan for tomorrow is to bake cookies and then pass them out with the gospel message in a bag. We're excited that people have noticed us and are talking about what we're doing. They're curious, and open to know more. At youth group on Saturday evening one of the girls told me that her Mom's friend, who is a taxi driver told her Mom about the group giving out free pinto. Pray that as we go back on Tuesday and Wednesday we'll be able to share the gospel een more clearly, and that people who have seen our practical ways fo loving them will be ready to accept God's eternal love for them.

Some of my favorite photos from outreach in Talamanca

Sunday, October 4

 

Today we officially started outreach.  At 7 we were at the river loading all our luggage into a dugout canoe to start the trip to Shuabb.

 

Across the river and up the hill we waited for the tractor to come pick us up and drop us off at the church where we led the church service at 9.

Monday, October 5

We helped out around the church this morning, then Rossela and I headed over to the elementary school to see if they needed any help.  They didn’t, but we enjoyed meeting the teacher and students. 

 

Tuesday, October 6

Everyone here is so generous.  They’ve brought us so much fresh fruit- bananas, plantains, pejiballes (the orange looking palm fruit in the front.  They taste a bit like squash), lemons, and mamones (the prickly red fruit).  

 

Wednesday, October 7

We left this morning on the tractor again.  It was sad to say goodbye to the children we had made friends with. 

 

Andy and Randy.

 

Thursday, October 8

Today was our free day.  We went into Bribri to use the internet.  Bribri is the biggest town around, and it’s not that big. 

 

Saturday, October 10

There was extra time today for devotions and worship. 

Today we went hiking to a waterfall with the church youth group.