sabbath
|ˈsabəθ|
ORIGIN Old English , from Latin sabbatum,
via Greek from Hebrew šabbā t , from šā b a t ‘to
rest.’
I want to take
a moment to interject a muay importante lesson I am learning while in the
middle of one of the busiest times of my life. As staff, we are reading through
a book I highly recommend. I’m planning to read it a second time and following
the Biblical principles in it may change your life.
As we have
prayed over our schedule and given the students a little extra time to develop
their talents, prepare for the outreach and process through all they are
learning, my heart is
reinforced by the fact that our Sabbaths are vital to our life. God modeled a
Sabbath in the creation and it’s a known fact in things such as weight training
that your body BENEFITS through rest and performs better after time off. Here
is an excerpt:
“Many of us
have lost our way, spiritually, in the whiteout of the blizzard swirling around
us. Blizzards begin when we say yes to too many things. Between demands from
work and family, our lives fall somewhere between full and overflowing. We
multitask, so much so that we are unaware we are doing three things at once. We
admire people who are able to accomplish so much in so little time. They are
our role models.
At the same
time many of us are overscheduled, tense, addicted to hurry, frantic, preoccupied,
fatigued, and starved for time. Cramming as much as possible into our
Blackberries and Palm Pilots, day planners and to-do lists,we battle life to
make the best use of every spare minute we have.
Yet not much
changes. Our overproductivity becomes counterproductive. We end our days
exhausted from work and raising children. And then our ‘free time’ on weekends
becomes filled with more demands in an already-overburdened life.
We listen to
sermons and read books about slowing down and creating margin in our lives. We
read about the need to rest and recharge our batteries. Our workplaces offer
seminars on increased productivity through replenishing ourselves.
But we can’t stop. And if we aren’t busy, we feel
guilty that we waste time and are not productive.
...
Add to this the
storms and trials of life that blow into our lives unexpectedly and catch us
off guard, and we wonder why so many of us are disoriented and confused.
We need a rope
to lead us home.”
Scazzero, Peter
(2006) Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash a Revolution in Your Life
In Christ
He goes on to
say, don’t just rest on Sunday (if that is your chosen Sabbath day)...
STOP everything you have planned and trust God is bigger
than it all.
Truly REST, this doesn’t mean ‘catch up on things around the
house.
DELIGHT in the little details of creation
and have fun!
Take time out
to CONTEMPLATE the love of
God in our lives.
Evangelism
on the Amazon
Last week, my
work group in the discipleship school got to join a local church and go down to
the most dangerous and impovershed part of Iquitos - Lower Belen (bay-lin). A lot of the injustices of
addiction, poverty and sexual abuse are central to Belen and the further and
lower (toward the River) you go, the more dangerous...
 |
| Click to enlarge. The view from inside a home. |
The planks
common to Minnesota hiking trails are better equiped than the wobbly irregular
boards we walked on above the floating sewer beneath. The uncomfortability was
only a motivator to me. My Español is not proper enough yet to preach the
gospel or a testimony (but my next language class assignment is to tell my
story in my limited Spanish vocabulary) so a pastor did most of the talking.
There were four of us being invited into four or five different homes. A young
student from Columbia did most of the translation.
I realized my
weakest link in the Christian skill set is evangelism. I tend to stick away
from the “Christ died for your sins” shtick and simply tell how He has impacted
my life through forgiveness, transformation and overcoming pain and fears.
I was
conflicted out there, just to be honest, as I felt some people went along for
the ride simply because they felt they had to be respectful of a pastor and, dare I say, white gringo missionaries. If one’s
heart is not receptive to the fact that someone died for them and they have
been given forgiveness, it’s an uncomfortable moment. As a counselor, I would
rather talk through how they’ve been hurt, why they are stuck, or what they
don’t understand.
An old lady we
met, for privacy I will call her Rose, was the most heartfelt encounter. She
had known God and walked with Him for years, but recently there had been
financial problems and even death in the family. We were able to pray with her
and her grandson (whose parents had been killed). In the first house, another
mother repented for walking away from God and into sin. If her forgiveness could be measured in tears, His
mercy was limitless.
Lastly, I asked
each person in Spanish if they had Bibles. What’s a one time conversion or
rededication without a source of encouragement and TRUTH? The pastor assured us
he would be following up on Wednesday with Bibles and more counsel. I’d say,
overall, it was a fruit bearing trip.
 |
| The sights and smells of a river of sewage beneath us triggered thoughts of the Land of Smiles. |
Plaza
de Armas
It’s been one
of those moments that brings things full circle for you in a way. Three times
now I have been out to the plaza here for prostitution ministry. I made mention
of it in my last blog, but these last two trips have a bit more to tell.
I will start
with a few weeks ago. I had the privilege of teaching a class on Human
Trafficking with the leader of Hefzi-Ba, a women’s
ministry that does outreach to women on the streets. We looked at the global
impacts as well as the local impacts here in Peru. It is not uncommon for one
of the children that sell items on the streets to be trafficked away. One of my
co-staff has been confronted by this fear a few times. Some of them she has
searched and found the children in another part of Iquitos, some she has never
found them at all. Vulnerability
and geography make this a great place for predators.
As for the
women in the plaza (and the many men that are transvestites), there are a few
differences between this and Thailand. One major one is Peru is a Catholic
nation, unlike Thailand which is a Buddhist nation, so if you pronounce you are
a Christian, generally the girls here are respectful of your ‘bubble’ and your
personal space. In Thailand, knowing you were a Christian simply meant you were
just like every other white guy who was in it for himself. Another is that the
girls here aren’t under lock and key by their bar owners. They don’t work in a
bar, they work for a pimp, and so if they wish to not go to work, they can stay
at home with their significant other and/or children. (very common) Although
there is obviously a pressure to make money. Prostitution, unlike Thailand, IS
legal here. It is regulated however as the girls must for in for a health
certificate and document their health ever so often.
Last week we
went out as a staff team to prepare the waters for the students this week. The
nerves of nostalgia weren’t as intense this time, but that feeling of riding in
the moto-taxi on the way to the plaza brings me right back to the tuktuks of
Chiang Mai. There’s nothing quite like the heightened sense of spiritual
warfare that comes along with this kind of ministry. The only comparable
atmosphere I have been was that of in the heart of the drug infested area of
California known as Skidrow.
This particular
night I was able to meet a few of the girls. I asked a few basic questions in
my broken Spanglish such as, “Do you have kids?” or “How is your family?”
Some girls are
more comfortable than others with the guys, even if we are labeled a ‘brother’.
The girls on my team split off to talk to a girl that is a bit closed off and
so I sat on a bench to pray. As I was praying, a pair of “women” came up to me.
They stood on either side of me.
“Hola! Como
estas?” I said. They responded in action instead by sitting next to me. Knowing
their intentions, I quickly stood up and pointed at my co-staff. “Mi hermanas!”
(“My sisters!”) Even with the familiar faces of my female friends, the man was
persistent in his efforts. Once I felt safe to sit back on the bench, he tried
to sit on my lap!
In Espanol my
co-staff asked him to ‘respect my brother, please!’ The stench of alcohol let
me know there were other reasons resulting in such behavior as well. Matter of
fact, one of the “girls” was very belligerent and subsequently left in the back
of the Policia pickup truck.
As my friend
said, “It was a night of firsts.”
I don’t want to
end this story on such a silly note, however. This past week I was able to show
pieces of my Thailand videos... (which if you never got to see them, please
do!)
http://www.youtube.com/stbtome
...as well as
the documentary Nefarious.
If you have
never seen it, I highly recommend it. Within the limits of good taste, it tells
the story of trafficking and prostitution around the world. About half of my
students witnessed the film, even some who do not understand English very well.
Everyone had a deeply profound reaction to the film and we had a great
Spirit-filled intercession time to follow.
We then went
out on Friday to physically make an act of intercession. Four of us prayer
walked the perimeter of the Plaza and 5 girls performed pedicures on 7 or 8 of
the women. There was a beautiful point where I just saw what was happening
through Jesus’s eyes.
These complete
strangers were washing the feet of prostitutes for no other reason but to show them they loved them!
Instead of
being the mouth we usually are, there was not a lot of talking. What a way to
be hands and feet of the Lord. This is one snapshot of why I know I was called
to be here.
Prayer
Requests
-
My Health - Subsided now, but
last week I had 2 full days of weakness, stomach pains, bowel issues and lots
of sleeping. I am unsure of if I had/have a parasite, but believing for a
complete healing even now. Also, my feet need prayer. EIGHT weeks ago when we first returned from the jungle I got
some sort of chigger bites and although some have healed, they are still pretty
bad. I have tried prayer, lemon juice, alcohol 3x a day, menthol/VapoRub,
antihistamine, anti-itch cream and Cortizone cream. It’s to the point where I’m
looking at possible scarring.
-
Jungle Weeks - Sunday we
leave for ‘the farm’ again. This time, there are no secret plans involved. We
will be building a few buildings for the jungle ministry on their property.
(possibly a classroom or a medical center or sanctuary) Our lectures will continue
the first week and the second week we will have an interim week of OUTREACH to various tribes
down river! Each day a team will go in and
‘embassadors’ will seek out the chief/pastor. We will assess their needs and
serve them with everything God enables us to do for them! Please pray
for healings, salvations and discipleship to be abundant.
-
My Spanish - Progress has
slowed down, but this week we are required to write our testimonies out. It’s
not easy. Not at all.
-
Our Schedule - I need to take
my own advice.
-
My finances. I came here
partially raised, in faith on the testimony of the vision God has given me. The
Lord was faithful through Thailand and even now, so I am praying for wisdom in
stewardship and trust in sustenance. I’ll be honest... I’ve rationed out what
I have to live an uncomfortable 8 months. I don’t see anything Biblical about
going into debt. If you trust God, you trust God. I want to
remind everyone, $5 or $10 goes a VERY LONG WAY in a 3rd world country. If you’ve committed, please hold to your word. I don’t
have the capabilities to send you month reminders, so my blog is the best place
I can do this. If you feel lead, there is a link at the top to various options.
There is also a tax deductible option, if you are interested in that, please
email me. My email is: stbtome@msn.com.
THANK
YOU AGAIN... ‘Til next month...
Sam
