Pills, Purity, Pants, Patience, Power, and Prodigal Packages

What a blessed day!

Before I start talking about today, let me mention a couple of things I forgot about yesterday ...

God's Valentine

While were were eating Cuban food at a restaurant called Carreta in the Miami airport, an elderly Hispanic "bus boy" walked up to me and handed me some lyrics. We struck up a conversation in Spanish and before I knew it, he had handed me several sets of song lyrics. All were worship songs he had written and wanted to share with us.

The one that sticks out the most is "14 de Febrero". As he was half reading half singing the song to me, it struck me as a love song. Because I am a man and as such predisposed to ask stupid questions, I asked him what was special about that date. He said "it is Valentine's day". Duh!

I think it is great that someone writes a love song to God. Even more so, I think it is great that there are people who are bold enough to walk up to a stranger and start a spiritual conversation in a different language (he didn't know I spoke a bit of Spanish when he approached me).

There's a dress code in Grenada?

One humorous side note - Adam wore camouflage short pants on the plane from Miami to Grenada. Before passing through customs, Adam was informed that he would not be allowed to "leave the compound" unless he changed pants. Thankfully, Adam had a change in his carry on luggage.

Finally, here's a run down of the day's events:

Pill Packing

The medical team started the day by allocating medication and vitamins into pre-packaged doses. Some of us wrote the dosages on plastic baggies. Some of us counted pills. We're looking forward to putting them to good use tomorrow when we have a clinic for the local church members.

Marriage Workshop

Tim and Michelle hosted a marriage enrichment workshop for the adults. Two people came and were given an abbreviated intimate version of the full set of lessons prepared. While disappointed in the turnout, we can't say what God's plan is. Maybe we'll find others throughout the week who are interested. Maybe God has something special in mind for these two people. Maybe this is just "rocky soil". We'll wait and pray that God will reveal to us where this will go.

Purity Retreat

Hillary led the purity retreat for the youth today. While the kids didn't show up until almost an hour after it was suppose to start, they did show up. There were 3 girls and 7 or so boys. We knew several from previous trips.

The retreat was broken down into 4 lessons taught by different people dealing with the world's view of purity, God's view of purity, dating, and forgiveness. They had group sessions, split into groups for boys and girls, played games, ate lunch, etc.

Talking about sexual purity is difficult in any circumstances. Talking about it with strangers from another culture is super-tough. That's why we are so happy that a few of the Grenadians opened up about their culture and personal struggles to us. Hillary said that she thought it went about as well as she could hope.

We still have several days left. I pray with confidence that God will bless these young people in our common struggle to remain pure in a world that mocks purity.

Beck Power

I had a great conversation with Caleb and Jenny Beck. What a fantastic family! I wish I had their maturity and courage.

They shared with me their work in Rwanda with the "Extra Mile" program, the Franco/Anglo influence in Rwanda, the segregation of Christians according to their ethnicity or tribe, and the difficulty in communicating openly and directly. I could try to repeat what they said, but I think it better for you to reward yourself by asking them directly. Getting to know Christians like them is one of the main reasons I come on trips like this.

Prodigal Packages

Good news! We got 9 of 14 pieces of luggage tonight. They arrived on the 9 p.m. flight from San Jaun. 5 more to go ...

Off Road Adventures

After pill packing and making 40 or so sandwiches, the medical crew had the afternoon off. Some went to the beach and some went to see the 2nd floor apartment the Sullingers are renting. A few were lucky recipients of a 4.5 hour tour of the island. Along the bumpy rolling way, they got a flat and were chased by a drunken mechanic demanding payment for services not rendered. Sounds like an episode of "Cops: Grenada", huh?!

Devotional

Galon closed our evening with a devotional thought on Kingdom Living. He started by asking the following question: What is God telling us when things don't go according to our plan? Some of us planned on having a change of clothes. Tim and Michelle planned on having more than two people at the adult workshop. Before letting depression and anxiety take over our spirit and actions, we need to ask what God is saying to us in these moments.

As an illustration, he brought up the story in Luke 7:36 of when Jesus was anointed by the "sinful woman". While the host (Simon) wanted to reject Jesus because of his association with a social outcast, Jesus saw something different. We in the world are tainted by hidden presumptions and biases that drive our thoughts and actions. Not so God. When things do go as we anticipated, these are great opportunities to introspect on what the Kingdom view is.

Remember that when Jesus sent out the disciples, he gave them explicit instructions to "take nothing with you". Control is an illusion. The fallacy of self-reliance is a hard lesson for us to learn. That's why God gives us so many opportunities to learn this over and over again.

Until tomorrow ...

Mark