Adventure Points

We did make it to Jamaica on Monday night. We actually arrived at the missionary's home at about 1 a.m. local time, which is 2 a.m. eastern time.

We got here, but our luggage did not. On Wednesday we worked fabricating rebar structures to construct concrete columns. We did this work at the home of the Kays, our missionary hosts. Although our luggage had still not arrived, we cleaned up as much as we could -- without a change of clothes -- and went to conduct a street evangelistic meeting on Wed. night.

This was held in a ghetto, just behind the church building on which we are working. The Kays live in Kingston, and the church they are planting is in Spanish Town, about 45 min away. Anyway, this street meeting was a great experience. We set up some sound equipment at a corner and began the meeting. Some of the church members sang, Bud Kay introduced us, and then several on our team shared about what Jesus has done in our lives.

Afterward we had conversations with lots of people. I enjoyed taling with them. I met one 8-year-old girl named Whitney. She introduced me to her friend Tonya. It is very hard for us to understand the Jamaican accents. They are speaking English, but I can understand only very little of it. The irony is that they understand us perfectly, because all the media uses standard English. They laugh at us because we seem so dense.

Finally, when we got back home at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, we had our luggage -- all but Daniel. His finally arrived today.

We are making good progress with our project. I will have to post some photos when I figure out how to do that.

The Kays have been fabulous hosts for us, cooking for us and even washing our clothes. By the way, when we finally got our luggage, our clothes inside were wet. Apparently our bags had sat out in the rain somewhere along their journey. Lynda Kay graciously offered to dry our clothes.

The Kays have two children: J.D., who is about 11, and Dana, who is about 9. They are both home schooled.

I need to thank Bud for allowing me to use his computer to post this blog.

There is much more to see, and much more to do here. All is well, and we even racked up some "adventure points." Lynda says that when things get a little crazy on a trip like this, we really rack up adventure points. As long as we are safe, and getting kingdom work done, the adventure points (at least so far) make the trip exciting.

Thank you for all your prayers.

On Mission

We have made it to Ft. Lauderdale, and there is a (free) Wi Fi connection here. I had expected to have a connection in Jamaica, too, but now I’m not sure we will have one.

We have had a couple of delays due to weather. We arrived safely, but late, in Ft. Lauderdale. We are now flying standby for a 9 p.m. flight to Montego Bay, where we will catch another flight to Kingston.

If we can’t catch the plane tonight, we will spend the night in Ft. Lauderdale and get an early flight to Jamaica tomorrow.

Dan has always told us that we need to be flexible. OK. It is actually a great trip. Dan is handling all the logistics, so the rest of us just know that he will figure things out.

We got upgraded to first class on our flight from Atlanta to Ft. Laud. Pretty sweet deal, especially since we had to wait for about an hour on the ground, in the plane. Not bad when you have plenty of room.

On the Way. Had weather delays. Now on standby for fly

Love and Music

There is a certain feeling of being love.  It is the openness of the soul, a complete trust in someone else.  I also experience this feeling in music.  It is an openness of the soul, and a carefree enjoyment of the moment.

 When God is driving the music, then he can speak to my soul through it.  It helps me connect with him.

 This thought just came to me today as I was mowing grass.  I had never really thought about that connection before.

Divine Refusal

I am learning, over the years, to handle expectations.  People often want me to read this book, check out this article, get involved with this cause.  Sometimes it is right on track and very helpful to me.  But sometimes it is not.  It is all good stuff, but it is not all stuff that God calls me to do. 

Last week I wondered, “What if I refuse to meet these expectations?”  Jesus often refused to do what people asked or expected him to do.  I went through the book of Mark (and some other passages) and found numerous times when Jesus refused to do something others expected of him.

He refused to get involved in an argument between brothers (Luke 12:14).  He refused to control his disciples’ obedience to Sabbath laws.  He refused to come when his family called him.  He refused to let a healed demoniac travel with him.  He refused to appoint James and John to his ruling cabinet.  He refused to tell the Pharisees where his power came from.  He refused to testify at his trial.  He refused to drink wine mixed with myrrh as he died on the cross.

The key is that Jesus allowed only the Father to direct his actions.  The Holy Spirit led him.  Jesus did not explain himself or apologize for any apparent neglect.  He always treated people with love, even when he was harsh with them.

 Of course Jesus had his critics.  They did not understand why he would not follow convention or bow to the wishes of others.  It made people mad.  But Jesus was not afraid of that.  He had a mission from the Father, and he would not be diverted from it.

 I need to stay in such close relationship with God that I have a real sense of his calling upon me.  Then I can know what God wants me to do and to refuse to do.  And, like all of us, I will have my critics.  But there is a real sense of freedom in knowing that I only need to please an audience of One.

Thunderstorms

I enjoy thunderstorms.  I know they can be dangerous, though.  When Lisa and I were engaged, living in Ft. Worth, TX, we had  a real scare.  It must have been a Saturday, b/c we were both off of work.  Our respective apartments were just across the sidewalk from each other.  We were coming back to our complex from shopping when we saw a huge storm coming up.  The cloud was huge and almost black. 

By the time we got back to my (soon to be “our”) apt., the storm began to rage.  I had no radio, so I went across the courtyard to Lisa’s apt. to get her boom box.  I could barely maneuver through the wind.  I got back to our apt. and could not figure out how to use the radio.  The power was out and I figured the boom box batteries were dead.  (They weren’t.  I just couldn’t find the right switch.)

With no TV or radio, we could only wait and watch.  The storm blew out one of our windows in the stairway, leaving glass shards stuck in the opposite wall.  A serious storm.  Later we found out that it was not a tornado, but a storm with straight line winds of up to 90 mph.  Someone actually died in that storm.

Having said that, I still like storms.  I like the thunder and lightning.  I love the sound of the driving rain and the wind.  These storms are especially fun at night, offering glimpses of daylight in the chaos.

So now I’m on my porch, waiting for a storm, but it’s just sprinkling.  Come to think of it, I wouldn’t mind seeing a little sunshine before it gets dark…Surely we are caught up with rain for a while.