O-B-E-Y Obey Your Mom and Dad

“Hey man, do you mind if I take a turn on the tire?”

The spare tire provided some small relief as we bounced along the rocky roads of Costa Rica in a trailer. Ahead of us, the 1969 Land Rover chugged grumpily onward. We had been riding for about 45 minutes, and we were almost to the house where Umparo lives. Umparo is a short, almost toothless lady that loves the L-rd passionately. She moved out into the country after her son caught brain fever, and luckily, she was able to nurse him back to health. In her home today, we held the first meeting of a small church plant in her area.

Pastor Franklin, the new pastor of the congregation at Media Vuelta, preached a strong message about how the L-rd will protect us from spiritual attacks when we submit to him. It reminded me of how parents and children relate. A child is underneath the protection and care of his parents, but when he refuses to obey and submit to them, he removes himself from their protection. The big difference between submitting to G-d and submitting to your parents is that there comes a point in your life when you no longer need the protection of your parents and you are no longer required to submit to them, but we always need to submit to G-d.

I Already Took a Bath

I fell in the river for the first time today. I was carrying the first load of supplies to the boat, and I slipped on the muddy bottom step. Luckily I only went in thigh deep, so my cloths and bags were reasonably dry. I will have to wash my cloths now, but that is okay because we are traveling to Puerto Viejo soon, where Ana has a washing machine.

Seeing how everyone relates around here has me somewhat nervous about coming down in November. I don’t like how easy it is to talk about people when they are not around. I am also worried because I want to make sure that when I am down here, I am able to take care of myself and get the rest that I need. It is important to me that I establish a relationship with Ana in which I am a partner and contributor, not a peon worker. Please pray for this.