Bom tarde

Or good afternoon. Greetings from Fortaleza, Brasil (yes, with an ´s´). I´m at an internet café near our hotel, catching up on email before going to dinner. My time here has been a great blessing. Though it took almost 60 hours to arrive here from the time I got to the airport in San Antonio, that seems like such a long time ago that it´s practically forgotten -- especially after the welcome and overwhelming gestures of love received from our brothers and sisters here.

The downtown church appointed their first elders this past Sunday and we were able to be here for that special occasion. Monday was spent at the Colegio Cristiano Joanna Scruggs (Joanne Scruggs Christian School). We were treated like rock stars by the kids -- they wanted all of us to sign their shirts and arms, while some parents asked us to sign their babies. The response from the kids their to our presence was incredible. There are 525 kids age 3-16 that receive an education because of a dream one woman (Herbine) following God´s heart. Herbine named changed the name of the school to honor Joanne, a longtime supporter and friend. The library is named after my dad, while the classrooms are named in honor of men and women from Northside and other places who´ve been longtime supporters of the school.

We had a prayer drive through the city the following day and watched the Brasil/Ghana game at a restaurant and at the church. We´re excited about being here for the next game, too, which will be a great follow-up to our work-day at the church building Saturday.

I´ve really enjoyed being here with this group. My teens are doing so well; they´re stepping out of their comfort zones and fearlessly attempting to communicate with the Brasilians. It´s also been a great blessing to be here with Luke and Anna. We miss Dad, Mom, and Bethany and wish they could be here with us, but having been here in 2004 without any of them, it´s awesome to have Luke and Anna here.

Continue to pray for us; thank you for doing so. May the Lord of peace be our strength.

Things at Zenith are going well. We're having a great time at camp; Mitch Wilborn, our keynote speaker, is doing an outstanding job of letting God speak through him. I feel much better about my class after the final two classes; the first one, I felt, was a little rough. I didn't feel as good about it as the other two, but I don't know if they noticed. I got some medicine to hopefully take care of the cold I've been fighting off. That's it for now. Thanks for the ongoing prayers...

Quick Hits

VBS is going very well. We've got a great crowd of kids and a great group of adults and teens working with them. I'm continually impressed with our Children's Ministry team, even T-Kat who no longer blogs. It's been a fun week for me, leading the assemblies in the morning and afternoon. I get to do the fun stuff, though I'm constantly running out of breath from the song-leading and dancing...more of a jump-and-wave-the-arms thing really.

I've had one job offer so far: Cabana/Pool Boy for one the families at church. They're about to move into a new house and even said I could pick out the colors of the guest room. Hey, I'm staying open...

But really no idea of what to expect come September. Plenty of ideas, not sold on anything yet.

I hope I get some time soon (within the next few months) to dedicate to writing about the past 18 months or so in my life, what's been going on in my heart and where that may take me. Not sure what that will look like, but I hope I'll been graced by God with the creativity to produce literary from this. (Because after writing sentences like those, I'm guessing I've got a bit of explaining to do beyond those words.) And writing out my hopes will hopefully help hold me accountable to seeking their fruition with my abilities.

The US have a big game this Saturday (yes, I used "have" instead of "has"; for some reason, one refers to a nation's soccer team as an "I" not "it", i.e. 'I have' as opposed to 'it has', which is news to me). They didn't look good at all against the Czech Republic, who are a very good team from their showing this past Monday. Italy is an imposing opponent, having played very well against Ghana earlier in the week. For the US to move on to the second round, Saturday is practically a must win. Landon needs to be moved to the midfield and Eddie Johnson needs to be in the starting line-up. And get Clint Dempsey on the field, too; I'd like to watch that guy play.

(If the previous paragraph made no sense to you at all, don't worry. Though you may realize the World Cup is going on -- the World Cup being the greatest sporting event ever, the final 32 countries competing for the trophy and honor of best soccer team in the world -- you may not be as excited about it as I am. I've watched what I can of it and definitely read more than my fair share of articles. Though the US laid an egg Monday, they're still capable of winning against Italy...but it's going to be tough. They can do it, they should be confident to do so, but Italy is good, very good. I hope it will be an exciting game and that we'll come out on top. ABC is airing the game live at 2:30 in the afternoon, so gather 'round the tele and watch the beautiful game.)

Such an odd thing: It's 11:15 as I began typing this entry and I should be putting my head on my pillow. I'm exhausted and worn-out from supervising one of our Work Camp crews and all that entails. Among the five churches working together this week, we've got about 160 teenagers and over 20 adults on crews scraping and painting eight houses in San Antonio. That doesn't count all the moms and dads who are cooking our meals in the evenings. It's quite an effort and endeavor, but one that is well worth it.

So why can't I go to sleep? I've averaged a 12:30 bedtime for the past four or five days and I guess my body doesn't know what to do with an extra 45 minutes. Or maybe this blog is letting me go to bed without typing something this evening; maybe it's similar to the necessity of entering the numbers on Lost.

I find it encouraging that over 160 teens have paid $45 each to work. Pay to work! What kind of deal is that?! It's crazy! (Ok, in almost every case their parents paid; some have been scholarshipped, but all of them want to be working.) We meet at our building at 6:45 so we can arrive to Mac by 7:20 and depart to our houses between 8:00 and 8:30. Sure, we finish the afternoon with a trip to a local water recreation area. We also feed them a great dinner. They get to see friends from other churches, even get to spend the day with them on the same crew. They hang out with friends from their own church. They make new ones. All these things they do, which are great positives to a camp, but I think they go for more than that, even if they don't completely realize it.

There's something very special about getting dirty and doing hard work for someone else in the name of Jesus. Scraping is far from the top of my list of Things I Hope We Get To Do In Heaven. I don't think it makes the list of many of our teens. Though painting is much more fun and rewarding, it's still tough and challenging. Being on a ladder with a heat index reaching the high 90s doesn't make much anything enjoyable outside. Yet every year these teenagers come back in droves. I've had an increase in number of participants every year. The nature of this strikes directly at the heart of what we know is the message of Christ: what you do for the least of these, you do for me. We know that, we say that, and we rarely live it -- even when we know the extent of the joy waiting for us when we participate with God in activities such as these.

I think the tangible nature of this project and camp is one of the things that makes it so alluring and popular. It's experiential learning at its best: this is how we learn to be servants like Jesus. Things like this are craved. And needed. This is one of the best classrooms a minister could want. We serve together, we eat together, we play together. We spend time in quiet, we sing together, we participate in groups small and large. We have a common task and plan, but a variety of talents and abilities to complete it. The outward transformation of the house is what we desperately hope occurs in the hearts of each of us: scraping away the old, worn-out paint and replacing it with a new coat, symbolizing a deeper change than mere appearances, but one of old creation to new creation. Behold, all is made new.

May it be so with our hearts.