I probably can't lucidly describe the degree to which my eyes have been opened in the last seven hours.
Tonight, a few in my BCM gathered together to study (on a Friday night) the word of God as it pertains to the Holy Spirit. The study was a part of the Secret Church series as presented by David Platt's ministry at Brookhills Church in Alabama; it's called Secret Church because the gatherings take place from 6 to 12 on Friday nights, as this is when persecuted believers across the world meet to study the Word and worship Christ.
For more info: http://www.brookhills.com/secretchurch/
I can't even begin to scratch the surface of everything I learned tonight in one entry, especially at this hour. However, if there was a single image of the Spirit's work in man that will never leave me, it is the image of Simeon. (Luke 2:25-32)
Take this in:
25Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss[a] your servant in peace.
30For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."
____
Imagine this old man, living so many long days while still clinging to the hope that he will see the Messiah before he dies. The Holy Spirit leads his weary body to temple one final time. And when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the church, Simeon knows it in each of his tired bones that before him, this child, is the Lamb of God that will take away the sin of the world. And Simeon, old muscles trembling, takes this child in his arms and cries out, "God, as you promised, I have seen the Messiah with my own eyes, and so now let your servant die in complete and utter peace!" Precious.
How much are we like Simeon, living each day searching for the fulfillment found in a loving God, for redemption and forgiveness and unconditional affection, and how much more are we like Simeon in that once we have found Christ, we should be able to say, "Now, Sovereign Lord, dismiss your servant in peace" because I have seen all I need to see on this earth.
In this life, I have never seen any physical, tangible event that I could call a miracle. For example, I have not seen a sea part, or a lame man get up and walk, or a man walk on water. I have seen the Spirit of God moving in mighty and compelling ways in my own life and in the lives of my family and friends. And I have seen both old and new believers fall to their faces in shame of their sin and adoration of their God who redeems. I have seen the face of God in sunrises (thanks Phil Wickham for the lyric) and I seen the love of Jesus in the eyes of believers in Peru and I have seen the Holy Spirit stirring passion in hardened hearts.
So when the time comes for me to die, I will fall at the feet of Jesus Christ who loved me enough to die as my ransom, and I will cling to Him, and though I can't begin to imagine this moment, I think my words will be something like Simeon's.
____
My words are clumsy, and the hour is late, so forgive me. But I thank God for the His Spirit permeating believers around the world.
http://www.brookhills.com/secretchurch/
2.03.2009
Peru: Days 1-3
School has very quickly consumed most of my free time, so today I find that I have some time to sit down and take a breather, so I wanted to share some more about my trip to Peru for those who are interested. Below, I've described the first few days in more detail.
Day 1: December 27
At 8 AM, I said goodbye to my brother, and my parents drove me to the airport in Charlotte. The night before I didn't sleep much at all for the anticipation and the nervous energy, and I think I may have talked non-stop on the ride up to the airport. We got there about 9:45, and I checked in. I only knew two faces of those going on the trip, and I didn't see either of them. I said goodbye to my parents, and got in the security line. My parents, however, don't seem to understand that once I say goodbye, that's it. I only want to do it once! But they hovered around the line and watched me go slowly through the security line until I got up to the X-ray thing. I felt a little guilty for not waving goodbye to them, but like I said, if I have to say goodbye, I only want to do it once.
I went to the gate and sat down for a while, and finally, Kristi and Bryan (the only two people I knew) showed up with most of the team, and it turned out that I was sitting next to one of the other team members the whole time. That was pretty funny. The group seemed to gel right away. Our plane took off at 12:20pm-- and no, I didn't really sleep on that one. Too short. At about 4:40 (which was later that we expected) we took off again, from Houston, and we landed in Lima, Peru after midnight that night, and most of us had slept very little on that flight.
Day 2: December 28 (my 21st birthday!)
From about midnight until after 1:30 AM, we wandered around the Lima airport, stuck in line at customs for almost that entire time. Bryan and I got separated from the group and spent our entire waiting-in-line-at-customs time sharing camp stories. Good times. We finally left for the hotel and got there about 2AM. This was pretty ridiculous that we had to pay for a night in the hotel that would really only consist of 2AM to 5AM. Most of us didn't sleep at all during that time because we had to pump our water bottles and reorganize our packs or shower. I, however, passed out for about an hour on a bed with three other people. Somehow, all five girls had to share a room with two single beds, and the boys all had full beds to themselves! Jerks. ;-)
At 5AM, we got up to load the vans and after we prayed, we drove for almost twelve hours. So long story short, I spent the majority of my 21st birthday in a van with near strangers, driving over the Andes Mountains. However, the time seemed to fly because I slept almost the entire way. But during the times I was awake, the view of the mountains was absolutely breath-taking. Probably the only thing I've ever seen that was more beautiful were the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, and it's a close race. We stopped a few places for restroom and snack breaks along the way, (and stopped even more often once one of the girls started to get altitude sickness: poor thing!) and finally, we stopped at about 5:30pm in Mazimari. It was here that I got my last legitimate shower for a week! So, that was another thing that made my birthday special! ;-)
We had dinner at a local restaurant, where we all had rotisserie chicken and fries (which was kind of like our last supper in some ways, because we didn't really real food again until we got back to Mazimari a week later. So another special part of my birthday!
After dinner, we had a team meeting, discussed the trip and our goals and our responsiblities, then we all went to our rooms to pack, study our stories, pray, and sleep. We got to bed just before 10, I think. And though Mazimari is a small city in comparison to Lima, it was a loud one all night. Both cars and roosters made plenty of noise. Roosters would eventually drive me insane later on the trip. ;-)
I did miss being around my family and celebrating my birthday, but really, I'll never forget my 21st, no matter how old and crotchety I get. I had an unforgetable day. Where many of my friends will likely forget their 21st birthdays (for various reasons, haha), I can't. The gifts I recieved were the beautiful views of Peru's landscape, new friends whom I hope to keep for a long time, and the joy of knowing I was exactly where I was supposed to be. And though no one sang Happy Birthday that night, there was still singing--Peruvian children sang to us and the new sounds of Mazimari put me to sleep. And though I spent most of the day asleep, it was pretty much the coolest birthday I've ever had.
Day 3: December 29
This is one of the coolest of all the travel days.
We left the hotel around 6, and took taxis down this ridiculously bumpy road until about 9:30AM. I was impressed with myself in that I was able to sleep through most of that ride. At one point, the taxis drove onto this ferry, that was really not much more than three giant canoes tied together with boards nailed down for the cars to drive onto. Slightly nervewracking, but functional. All ten college students were out of the taxis taking pictures of the ferry ride.
When we got to port, we met our boat. The boat was basically a very large canoe with a motor on the back. And this was one of my absolute favorite things about the trip. We took a boat ride for seven hours down the Tambo River in Peru, taking in all the sights of the jungle, stopping to pick up people from other villages (who almost always brought fresh fruit with them to share) and the weather was perfect: cloudy, but not rainy, so it wasn't too hot and it wasn't soaked. We would find out later on that this kind of day was quite rare for a summer in Peru.
And on the boat ride, before we dropped off half of the team in Anapate, the team surprised me by singing "Happy Birthday" to me, first in English and then in Spanish! And let me tell you, that made my day!! I still haven't figured out whose idea it was, but I loved it! Thanks!!
After about 3 hours on the boat, we drop off the first half of the team in Anapate, and the rest of us continue on for another four hours almost to Shevojah. This boat ride was perfect: we talked, we laughed, we took TONS of pictures, and we even dozed off every now and then. By the end of the boat ride, I felt like I'd known the team for years instead of days.
We landed in Shevojah at about 3:30. We pitched our tents in front of the church, and the girls went down to the creek to "bathe." Imagine airquotes here, because though the boys had a nice area where they could swim and get all the way in the water to wash off, the area for the women was a creek, about ankle deep or a little higher. So really, we would wash off as best we could with our clothes or bathing suits on, bend over to wash our hair, and that was it. But let me tell you, it felt great. :-)
We ate dinner, which for most of us consisted of beef jerk, power bars, nutrition bars, pop-tarts, or some combination of those. That night, we were fine with it. Later, it would get old. Quickly. But after we ate, we all came togther to talk, and when it got dark, we all retreated to our tents to study and read, and probably we were all asleep by 9pm.
That concludes the first entry of my Peru trip! Now that the travel days are done, and we're in our jungle village, I can tell you now about the real mission.
to be continued...
Day 1: December 27
At 8 AM, I said goodbye to my brother, and my parents drove me to the airport in Charlotte. The night before I didn't sleep much at all for the anticipation and the nervous energy, and I think I may have talked non-stop on the ride up to the airport. We got there about 9:45, and I checked in. I only knew two faces of those going on the trip, and I didn't see either of them. I said goodbye to my parents, and got in the security line. My parents, however, don't seem to understand that once I say goodbye, that's it. I only want to do it once! But they hovered around the line and watched me go slowly through the security line until I got up to the X-ray thing. I felt a little guilty for not waving goodbye to them, but like I said, if I have to say goodbye, I only want to do it once.
I went to the gate and sat down for a while, and finally, Kristi and Bryan (the only two people I knew) showed up with most of the team, and it turned out that I was sitting next to one of the other team members the whole time. That was pretty funny. The group seemed to gel right away. Our plane took off at 12:20pm-- and no, I didn't really sleep on that one. Too short. At about 4:40 (which was later that we expected) we took off again, from Houston, and we landed in Lima, Peru after midnight that night, and most of us had slept very little on that flight.
Day 2: December 28 (my 21st birthday!)
From about midnight until after 1:30 AM, we wandered around the Lima airport, stuck in line at customs for almost that entire time. Bryan and I got separated from the group and spent our entire waiting-in-line-at-customs time sharing camp stories. Good times. We finally left for the hotel and got there about 2AM. This was pretty ridiculous that we had to pay for a night in the hotel that would really only consist of 2AM to 5AM. Most of us didn't sleep at all during that time because we had to pump our water bottles and reorganize our packs or shower. I, however, passed out for about an hour on a bed with three other people. Somehow, all five girls had to share a room with two single beds, and the boys all had full beds to themselves! Jerks. ;-)
At 5AM, we got up to load the vans and after we prayed, we drove for almost twelve hours. So long story short, I spent the majority of my 21st birthday in a van with near strangers, driving over the Andes Mountains. However, the time seemed to fly because I slept almost the entire way. But during the times I was awake, the view of the mountains was absolutely breath-taking. Probably the only thing I've ever seen that was more beautiful were the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, and it's a close race. We stopped a few places for restroom and snack breaks along the way, (and stopped even more often once one of the girls started to get altitude sickness: poor thing!) and finally, we stopped at about 5:30pm in Mazimari. It was here that I got my last legitimate shower for a week! So, that was another thing that made my birthday special! ;-)
We had dinner at a local restaurant, where we all had rotisserie chicken and fries (which was kind of like our last supper in some ways, because we didn't really real food again until we got back to Mazimari a week later. So another special part of my birthday!
After dinner, we had a team meeting, discussed the trip and our goals and our responsiblities, then we all went to our rooms to pack, study our stories, pray, and sleep. We got to bed just before 10, I think. And though Mazimari is a small city in comparison to Lima, it was a loud one all night. Both cars and roosters made plenty of noise. Roosters would eventually drive me insane later on the trip. ;-)
I did miss being around my family and celebrating my birthday, but really, I'll never forget my 21st, no matter how old and crotchety I get. I had an unforgetable day. Where many of my friends will likely forget their 21st birthdays (for various reasons, haha), I can't. The gifts I recieved were the beautiful views of Peru's landscape, new friends whom I hope to keep for a long time, and the joy of knowing I was exactly where I was supposed to be. And though no one sang Happy Birthday that night, there was still singing--Peruvian children sang to us and the new sounds of Mazimari put me to sleep. And though I spent most of the day asleep, it was pretty much the coolest birthday I've ever had.
Day 3: December 29
This is one of the coolest of all the travel days.
We left the hotel around 6, and took taxis down this ridiculously bumpy road until about 9:30AM. I was impressed with myself in that I was able to sleep through most of that ride. At one point, the taxis drove onto this ferry, that was really not much more than three giant canoes tied together with boards nailed down for the cars to drive onto. Slightly nervewracking, but functional. All ten college students were out of the taxis taking pictures of the ferry ride.
When we got to port, we met our boat. The boat was basically a very large canoe with a motor on the back. And this was one of my absolute favorite things about the trip. We took a boat ride for seven hours down the Tambo River in Peru, taking in all the sights of the jungle, stopping to pick up people from other villages (who almost always brought fresh fruit with them to share) and the weather was perfect: cloudy, but not rainy, so it wasn't too hot and it wasn't soaked. We would find out later on that this kind of day was quite rare for a summer in Peru.
And on the boat ride, before we dropped off half of the team in Anapate, the team surprised me by singing "Happy Birthday" to me, first in English and then in Spanish! And let me tell you, that made my day!! I still haven't figured out whose idea it was, but I loved it! Thanks!!
After about 3 hours on the boat, we drop off the first half of the team in Anapate, and the rest of us continue on for another four hours almost to Shevojah. This boat ride was perfect: we talked, we laughed, we took TONS of pictures, and we even dozed off every now and then. By the end of the boat ride, I felt like I'd known the team for years instead of days.
We landed in Shevojah at about 3:30. We pitched our tents in front of the church, and the girls went down to the creek to "bathe." Imagine airquotes here, because though the boys had a nice area where they could swim and get all the way in the water to wash off, the area for the women was a creek, about ankle deep or a little higher. So really, we would wash off as best we could with our clothes or bathing suits on, bend over to wash our hair, and that was it. But let me tell you, it felt great. :-)
We ate dinner, which for most of us consisted of beef jerk, power bars, nutrition bars, pop-tarts, or some combination of those. That night, we were fine with it. Later, it would get old. Quickly. But after we ate, we all came togther to talk, and when it got dark, we all retreated to our tents to study and read, and probably we were all asleep by 9pm.
That concludes the first entry of my Peru trip! Now that the travel days are done, and we're in our jungle village, I can tell you now about the real mission.
to be continued...
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