As many of you know, by the way, that I speak about my students, I truly love my job. But it’s not just my students who are great. Last week was our seniors’ last week of school, and I invited our teachers to come and pray over them. Through tears, I watched them lay hands on these students that they have guided and loved for the last 12 years. Some of the teachers had this set of students in 1st grade. Some have only come to know them in the last couple of years. But regardless, each teacher has poured their heart into our students. As a coworker, I am appreciative. As a parent, I am eternally grateful. My children are who they are largely because of this set of people who have given their time, their love, and their knowledge of the Lord. I asked this class to keep 2 Timothy 3:14-17 in their hearts as they leave our school which says, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” It is because of these teachers that I can say with confidence our students have been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood and are thoroughly equipped for every good work. I look forward to seeing how God uses them in the future. Thank you, Abundant Life Teachers, for your role in this.
Dirt
As a farmer I deal with a lot of dead things. It is not my favorite part of the job when I get to the farm in the morning and see the tell-tale ball of feathers signaling the death of a chicken or the committee of vultures that might mean a goat has been killed. I am not a butcher, and I take no joy in the death of animals or in killing them even when it’s necessary. I will not hesitate to kill when the job needs doing, but I much prefer husbandry of living animals. Keeping them alive is the art I try to master, but nothing stays alive forever and death plays a deep part in the art of living. Dead animals, dead leaves, dead roots, and all the other dead and decomposing things in the soil are what provide the food for the microbes, bacteria, and fungi who create the living soil that produces good crops. We need the dead because without it we cannot keep on living. In this way, dead things are also my favorite part of farming because I enjoy the process of redemption wherein we take dead things and we make life as co-creators with Christ.
You see, Christ is the artist of all artists when it comes to taking something dead and bringing it to life. Ezekiel 37 comes to mind when God shows Ezekiel a vision in the desert of dry dead bones being brought back to life as the living flesh and bodies of an innumerable army. Just before this God tells Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). When Adam sinned all of creation fell, and our hearts of flesh died and turned to stone. Our God of redemption was not done, though. He knew we “were dead in [our] trespasses and sins” but He “made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1 & 5). In fact, our redemption and new life in Christ was only made possible through His death on the cross. But we all know this, right? I doubt I am telling you anything new or showing you any verses you have not already read. Our God is a God of redemption, which should never cease to amaze us, but it also should not surprise us.
The other day something about this did surprise me. I know God is a God of redemption, but I thought He only needed to redeem because we were dead, because the world is dead, because when Adam fell everything fell with Him and now needs redemption. That is true, and a hearty “Amen” to it. I am certainly no stranger to my need or the world’s need for redemption. Yet, it was not the Fall of man that spurred God’s redemptive work. God was already in the business of redeeming before sin ever entered the equation. Look at Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Before sin, before man even existed to sin, God took dust and redeemed it to make a living human being. Think about it. God could have created man from anything or He could have just created Him out of nothing. Both options were equally within His omnipotent ability, but He chose to create man from dust. Why? Because God is a God of redemption from the core of who He is, always has been, and always will be, an eternally redemptive God. He did not have to change at all to deal with the Fall. He already delighted in taking something dead and devoid of life and making it living, well before sin entered the heart of man.
I think maybe the devil missed this. The devil thought, “Shoot, if I can get man to fall and become dirty and sinful then good-ole pretty clean God up there won’t know what to do with him.” But God is a dirty God! He loves dirt. He loves working in the dust and the dirt to create life where no one else could see even the possibility of life. Redeeming dirt is what God is about. When Man fell and the devil thought he had beaten God I bet Jesus must have just started to chuckle. Just more mud to play in for the redemptive hand of God. God was ready to do the dirty work of redemption. He made dirt to be redeemed. Redemption was always part of the plan. From the very beginning when God created us He did not just create us from the dirt. He created us from dust, the very least of dirt. As dead as dead gets is where God decided to start, so when we died in our transgressions and sins God knew exactly what to do with us. Redeem. Restore. Repeat. Just remember, you cannot get too dirty for God. His very eternal nature desires to turn your dirt to life. You, and a lot of things in your life will have to die, but God wants to make you alive.
When Hard Things Happen
The missionary life is not all it’s cracked up to be sometimes. Yes, we get to live in a beautiful country and have fabulous experiences but this comes at a price. Many times this price affects our kids in the form of loss. Tonight I held my daughter as she grieved having to sell her horse as she prepares to return to a country she doesn’t remember living in. This is just the beginning of the transition. As a parent, you know that there is nothing worse than watching our children hurt. And the missionary kid’s life is full of hurt. They have a loss of identity… Try asking an MK where they are from 😂. People are in and out of their lives, losing friendships and relationships consistently. They have a loss of friendships from here as they leave their host country, the only country they know, the only culture, the only school system, the only food they know. They can’t just come home from college on the weekends to do some laundry and eat a baleada. Even trips have to be weighed by the price of flights.
Usually, I handle it ok, but tonight I am mad. I am mad that my kid has to say goodbye to her life here. I am mad that this is the ask of MK kids. I am heartbroken that she has to say goodbye to her horse, the only constant in her transitional life. I would like to tell you that I am finding my peace in Christ. But to be honest, sometimes this is hard. So as we face these transitions with Emma, please pray for us. And when you think about it, pray for all the other MK kids out there that may be hurting, just like her.
What if the Answer Is No?
We ask for a lot of things in our lifetime. Sometimes we are told yes, sometimes no, and sometimes, maybe later. As a parent, I have responded in these ways more times than I can count, and I often think nothing of it. But, when it comes to my spiritual life and prayer life, these answers take on a whole new meaning.
God ALWAYS answers prayer. While I know and trust this truth wholeheartedly, I am also faced with the truth that sometimes His answer is no, and sometimes it is wait. That is even difficult to type.
We often hear Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” As believers, we love this verse, but what happens when we feel like we are in the will of the Lord and our heart is set on something that is of Him, but it doesn’t happen? Maybe it is a no, and maybe it is a wait, but nonetheless, we cannot see when and/or how it may come to fruition.
For me, this is just a difficult thing. I am a mathematician at heart, so in my thought process, if you have all the factors for the equation and plug them in correctly, you will get the correct answer. Unfortunately for me, life is not a math equation, and things do not always work out as planned. So as I pray and call out to God, I am faced with the truth that, at least for now, the answer is no. How do I deal with that? How do I work that out in my brain?
Well, for now, I am still working on that, but I am constantly reminded of God’s faithfulness. I may not understand the current why of the things that are happening, but I can trust the Lord. He has always been faithful, and I know that He knows what is best, and He has a plan, which I do not understand. I have to remember that He sees the entire picture, not just the piece that I am currently fixed on.
One of my favorite songs that has helped me through difficult seasons of life is “Goodness of God.” The song says, “All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been so, so good.” Even in my darkest and most frustrating times, I have to remember this truth. The song goes on to tell of how God has led me through fires, stayed close during the darkest nights, and how He is so so good.
We cannot throw up our hands and act like a child when we don’t get our way, even though it is sometimes tempting, but we have to keep our focus on the truth. We serve a good God. We serve the God that tells us in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.”
His Word is truth, and even in the times when I don’t understand why things are happening as they are, I must trust and believe in His truth. After all, His goodness is running after me, I just need to wait on His perfect will and His perfect timing.
Welcoming Allan to the Team!
61 Isaiah is excited to announce that Allan has joined our team as a translator! If you’ve come to Honduras you may have met him as a translator for your team, but if not we wanted to give you the chance to get to know him.
Hey guys, my name is Allan. But you can call me Allen Adam Pipo or something like that! I consider myself a Jack of all trades, and if I can’t do it I know someone who can. Whenever someone has a problem I have a friend or I know someone who can help us with almost everything. Right now I am taking university courses to become a lawyer. I want to be a lawyer so that I can help people from my country and maybe even from outside of Honduras.
I grew up in Gracias, went to Abundant Life Christian School, and helped my family a lot with their local businesses. I recently graduated from Abundant Life Christian School in June of 2022. 61 Isaiah partners with ALCS and teaches Bible classes and devotionals. The school is how I first met the ministry, but I was not really interested in what was going on. Then later I learned more about what 61 was doing and the people involved in it, and I got interested. They cared about Honduras like I did.
I got involved by going to villages with Josh whenever I had any free time. Then trying to help the ministry in anything I could while still in school. I’ve had a rough relationship with God through my youth, but In the past few years I accepted Christ and my relationship with God has improved. The people in 61 Isaiah were a big part of leading me to Christ, and even though I’m a little hard headed, they didn’t give up on me. If you want to know my whole story you’ll have to come down to Honduras and ask!
I decided to work with 61 Isaiah because I felt God calling me to be a part of their ministry. With their guidance and help, I think I could be better than on my own. 61 Isaiah feels like a family where you can take care of other people but also be taken care of. My Job in the ministry is to translate and be a jack of all trades. I fill in the gaps or necessities. I mainly help two days a week with two village communities from Lempira, but I also do a little bit of everything else too.
Working with 61 Isaiah has been one of the biggest opportunities I’ve had in my life to get to know God, my country, and my people better. I also have learned to be patient and to be more humble. I have learned to glorify God in daily life and not anyone else.
I look forward to meeting y’all and building a stronger and better relationship in order to share the gospel together. I am glad 61 Isaiah has walked with me, and I can’t wait to walk with you.
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