And Now, For Another Viewpoint

I wrote about the chip choices (197) in Wal Mart and how that is one of the massive decision making processes that I am glad I am freed from in an earlier article. Now I would like to counter that with something slightly funny. Before we left for the States, I walked in on Denise on the computer. She was researching Soda Pops. She was looking at, I think, Diet Caffeine Free Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. I asked what she was doing, and she took me to three or four pages of all these flavors of Soda Pop. She told me. “We have Coke, Coke Zero and Fanta. When I am in the States, I am not ever going to drink one of those. All I am drinking is stuff I can’t get here.” She stayed true to her word, and she made me follow her example. I just finished a big can of Arizona Diet Raspberry Tea. I had a coke zero in my hand and she said, “Your not going to buy a coke zero are you? We can get that in Bolivia.” Quick on the take, I said, “Why no, it was just in front of….of this Arizona Diet Raspberry Tea that I have been dying to drink.” Guess what? That is some good tea.

I Need Help

“Joe, I need help”.
“Joe, I need help. Please.” This is what I heard Denise say. It wasn’t a scream for protection, it was more of a muttered frustration. I walked over to where she was…on the baby food aisle in Wal Mart. Here was her problem. “I can’t choose. My brain has shut down. There are too many options.”

Now granted we had been awake for over 40 hours (we could not sleep on the plane for some reason). Also, this was the first time we were purchasing Baby Food. It cost too much to buy in Bolivia and the fruit is much better. However, I did not see what the problem was. Then it dawned on me. There was simply an overload of choices. If there had been one choice, or even two, it would have been easy. But now, suddenly there are all these nice packaged and attractive boxes, jars, and plastic containers staring at you. I did the super dad thing. I reached up and grabbed one. No time to think. No time to process. Act now!

Two things happened. First of all, we forgot to take the baby food with us to the conference the next day, which is why we purchased it. The second thing…she did not like the mixed tutti fruit applesauce cinnamon stuff I got her.

However, this did get me to thinking, so, while Denise was still stumbling like a zombie through the aisle of the super Wal Mart, I went to the chip section. I counted. Yes. I counted. How many chip options do you think the Wal Mart in Charles Town West Virginia offers to its discriminating shopper? I counted flavors and sizes…here you go. You have 197 different options available to you.

We go to the store to purchase chips, and we have to decide between 197 types, flavors, and sizes. In Bolivia, and where we live is in a city of almost a million, we pretty much have two choices. You can get a potato chip or you can get a tortilla chip.

What is my point? I don’t know. Maybe we spend so much energy making chip choices that we don’t have the strength to decide on the big stuff that matters? Maybe we devote so much time to keeping our options open, that we never do anything? Maybe Wal Mart has a lot of chips?

All I know, is to be honest, I have been able to survive for over two years with a lot more chip choices than I used to… and I like it.

My Family June 24 2009

My family...I am so blessed

San Juan Day

City View 1 Day Before San Juan

City View 2 Day Before San Juan

City View 1 Today--Day After San Juan

City View 2 Today--Day After San Juan

Every year we get to experience the joy of living next to a campfire for two days. It is called San Juan Day.

In a nutshell here is the idea. If you stay up all night burning fires until sunup, then you will have good luck all year long, St. John will bless you for doing it. The fires also include fireworks...large bomb like fireworks...all night long.

There is so much smoke, that last year the airport grounded and canceled all flights the following day! Everything in your house, your clothes, your bed...it is all smoke.

Here are two before and two after photos of the city. Today...the smoky shot...is CLEAR WEATHER WITH NO CLOUDS. That is smoke...not fog, not smog, not a rainy day.

Right now as I type this, it smells like a campfire is in the room. You should be here. But...I have to mention that we did not stay up all night for good luck...so you will have to pray for us to be blessed instead!

The Joy Of Anticipation

My wife and I are flying to the United States to be at Sandy Cove this year. It has been three years since we were there. It has been over two years since we were on American soil together. Believe it or not, we moved to Bolivia on May 17, 2007. We have been here for two years!

We have acclimated. We have gotten a working knowledge of the language, so that I can teach and preach in Spanish. We have learned to drive, and although as of this article I do not have one, hopefully within the next week I will have a Bolivian Driver’s license! We have learned how to merge, bluff your way through intersections, and honk your horn every 17 seconds. Driving in Bolivia is NOT like driving in the U.S.

We have learned to adjust our lifestyles to a slower pace, and how to hunker down and stay safe behind concrete walls when there is violence or potential violence in the streets. We have learned how to keep a supply of water on hand, and how to go without meat when the highways are blocked. We know how to ration our water, and can live without hot water for months on end.

We have learned more than we ever thought we would want to know about amoebas, parasites, bacteria, and the associated digestive disorders. We have learned how to communicate to medical doctors in the emergency rooms, and how to successfully be victims of armed robbery without being hurt.

We have learned how people all over the world need Jesus. We have learned that relationships are messy, but God is in the business of cleaning them up…that is all part of what redemption is about. We have learned the INCREDIBLE JOY of serving Christ in Spirit Filled Power as we depend on Him and watch Him flow through us to bless and change the lives of others.

Right now, we are learning something else. GOING HOME IS FUN.

Let me say that again. WE LOVE living in Bolivia and serving Jesus on the mission field. But GOING HOME is fun.

I cannot tell you how many conversations we have had about this. We are only going to be in the States one week, and five days of that is at the Sandy Cove Conference Center where we will be speaking at our favorite conference (www.sandycove.org), but we have talked on end about what we want to do, who we want to see, etc.

We have talked about restaurants and shopping. The word Wal Mart has left our lips many times. We have gone on line and looked at things that we will buy, and we are planning our trip to have one day of just shopping.

We have talked and laughed about the friends and family that we will see. We have reminisced about the past some, but almost all of our conversation is about the future. How cool it is going to be for both of us to be at Sandy Cove, eating ‘safe’ food, and not having a parasite for a week. We have talked about brushing our teeth with water out of the faucet, and eating an apple before putting it in bleach. We have talked about air conditioning, comfortable chairs, and a good sound system. But most of all, we have talked about people.

We have something that you don’t (nana nana na na naaa). We have the joy of anticipation. Sure, you want to go. But, we WANT TO GO SO BAAAADDDDD. Everyday we talk about it. Every single ding dong day.

You know what I see in this. The joy of anticipation….one day, we are really going to go home. We are going to leave this fallen world with all of its sinful and spiritual parasites, with its wicked soul viruses, and its draining relational bacteria. We are going to leave an unsafe, fallen, and cursed world and GO HOME.

We are going to go see Dad. We are going to see our brothers and our sisters. We will be with our family. We will eat with them, drink with them, and laugh…and LOVE with them. We will leave this world behind and finally be where we should be.

You know what I think? I think we should think about this. I think we should talk about it every ding dong day. We are going home.

What do you anticipate about heaven? What do you think it will be like?

I can’t wait to sit down by the emerald sea and talk with you about it!

The joy of anticipation. Wow.

Joe

The Heart Of God

Here is a video that I love...the message is powerful and true.

Job Security

With all the people in the States, and around the world, losing their jobs due to the economic crisis, I was thinking (thanks to Jon Lowe's blog) about the fact that I have tremendous job security. God has called us into the field, and there is no downsizing until Jesus comes back. As long as there is one more person that needs to know God better and love Him more, as long as there is one more person who hasn't heard of God's love for them, as long as there is one more relationship in need of the touch of Jesus...there is a need for my job!

To all of you who, in spite of your economic hardship, keep giving to keep us here on the field...THANK YOU!

And to all of you...have you considered, prayerfully, a career change into a firm where there are no layoffs or reductions in workforce?

The world...and BOLIVIA needs you!