Psalm 19:1-4

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.
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Los cielos proclaman la gloria de Dios; el firmamento revela la obra de sus manos. Un día se lo cuenta al otro día; una noche se lo enseña a la otra noche. Sin palabras, sin sonidos, sin que se escuche una sola voz, su mensaje recorre toda la tierra y llega al último rincón del mundo, en donde el sol pasa la noche.

I'm sorry for your loss...

A while ago I was visiting with a friend who told me that a young woman (who nearly died in childbirth) had passed away in the end after all.  I actually didn't know who or what my friend was talking about, but of course I still thought that was a sad loss.

Later that day, as I scrolled through Facebook, I found out that the woman my friend had been talking about was a graduate from Oaxaca Christian School.  She had been living in Texas with her husband and seven children.  A husband and seven children left behind.  Wow, it really struck me hard then - I couldn't imagine what they were going through.  And so, the following Tuesday, when I shared world news during morning devotions with the students, I asked them to pray for this family.

Picture from Praying for Charlsie Swadley website

It wasn't until I began to share the story with the students that I realized it.

I realized that I was talking to boys whose grandmother passed away just the week before due to complications from a terrible car accident.  To girls whose mother has cancer and, as I understand it, not much hope for great health care.  To a boy whose mother died 6 months ago and who often longs to be with his father.  To kids whose mothers are in prison across the street.  To siblings whose mother chose to abandon them when they were toddlers.  To an orphan who has gotten his hopes up for adoption several times, only to be disappointed again and again.

But they still pray for others.  When I arrived here a year ago, they were praying faithfully for two boys in another place to become adopted.  Many of them still remember Meriam, the Sudanese woman we prayed for last May.  And the boy who volunteered to pray that day for the Swadley family blew me away when I heard him say, "...You knew beforehand that this was going to happen, and this is Your will.  Please be with this family..."

The prayer of a child, who has been put through more in his short life than many adults have in theirs.  It brings me to tears.

Thank You, Lord. for these children.   Thank You for entrusting their precious lives to our care. Please forgive us when we err, and teach us to love like You.  Fill us to overflowing with Your love and kindness.  And please be with this young family who is finding their way without their mother.  Be a strong presence in their lives.  Help them through this time to what You have planned beyond.

When Old Is New

This Christmas I was able to buy for the school a couple dozen new books with a generous donation from a women's small group.  It was exciting to pick out books that caught my eye and held my interest.  I even went to a big book-fair downtown with the teachers and we picked out books together.  The new books have been very popular with the kids and I'm very thankful for them.

Meanwhile, there has been some pre-spring cleaning going on at the home.  Someone recently brought me a book they found at the visitor center - I could take it for the school or throw it away.  Though it certainly wasn't bright and shiny-new, it was a book of riddles that looked interesting, so I hung on to it.

As I looked at it more closely, I realized it wasn't published 15 or 20 years ago, but 45!  That's getting up there for a book.  When I was a kid in school and found a book published in the 1950s, it was pretty impressive.  I guess 1970 is the new 1950. :)  I felt a little bad marking it, but I went ahead and wrote the name of the school on it and put it on the shelf.

That same day, one of the sixth-graders picked it up and started reading it.  And he loved it!  He was cracking up at the riddles, interrupting my grading every minute to tell me another great riddle he'd found.  It made me so happy to see him enjoying the old book that didn't get thrown away.  New is nice, and change can be very good, but the old can be appreciated anew as well.

Racing With Eagles

Today I was walking out for recess duty while chatting with Juan (of the little red bird story).  But he lagged behind as another student came up, so I went on ahead.  Then, all of a sudden, Juan was shooting past me.  I thought surely another student would be running by too - they like to race each other a lot.  But as he passed by, Juan shouted back at me that he was racing the eagle.  What?

I looked up and, sure enough, there were eagles in the sky - two of them.  I'm not sure which one he was racing, but neither bird seemed to really have their heart in the competition, as they appeared rather stationary up there in the air.  Nevertheless, Juan was racing with all his might to beat them to his destination - and he won :).  It brought me great joy.

A Prince in Disguise

Last week I walked out of the dining hall to be startled by a little bundle of matted brown and grey fur in the walkway.  We sometimes have stray dogs wander onto the property, but thankfully most of them are frightened of humans and making some noise at them scares them off.  However, this dog didn't scare so easy, in fact, he began to follow me back to my house.

We never really had pets growing up, so I'm not great with animals.  I learned that lesson especially clearly when I got bit in the face a few months ago ;).  But I felt really bad for this dog, and it began pulling my heartstrings even more as I noticed it could only walk with 3 of its 4 legs.

So, I led it to the person at the home I knew would do something for the dog if something could be done - our administrator.  And, as I hoped, around her daily tasks, she took time out to care for this dog.

She started by trimming off its excess hair until she was finally able to cut away the solid chunks of mud that caused its limp.  Obviously this was a somewhat painful process for the dog, but we tried to distract it with some left over food from the kitchen.

Eventually all this care led to an evening trip to town to get it groomed properly.  And the little neglected ball of fur turned out to be an adorable schnauzer.

I love looking at the two pictures above.  It is amazing, and almost unbelievable, the beautiful, sweet dog that was beneath all that neglect.  It is quite the lesson in judging others based on what we see, and not seeing them with eyes of love, as God sees them.

"The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

1 Samuel 16:7 

New Year's Reflections

A year ago today I was en route from snowy Colorado to sunny Oaxaca.  In my heart I felt very clear direction in this step, but my mind wasn't so convinced.  I felt sorely under-trained for the work ahead, I was leaving a job in Denver that I really enjoyed and I was already pretty homesick for my family.

I didn't know if I could do it, become a director of a school - albeit, a very small school.  But, inspired by Bilbow Baggins in the second Hobbit movie, I decided that "I promised I would do this, and I think I must try."  And so I set out to at least give it a try.

And it was hard.  And I grew weary and worn down.  And I prayed fervently for strength and wisdom and love, and the Lord faithfully provided.  He is so good.  There were certainly times I wanted to give up, but what kept me going was the conviction that this is where I was meant to be.

Now, with teachers returning from Christmas break on Tuesday and students on Wednesday, I almost feel like I'm starting all over again.  Though I have a year of experience under my belt, new challenges have come up that I hope to rise to and grow from.

When I was in college, training to become a teacher, my greatest fear was my ability to maintain discipline.  I just didn't feel cut out for it. But, life experiences developed that skill in me and I definitely see the irony in it that now that is basically my job - and I actually enjoy it a great deal. :)

Now I'm feeling ill-equipped as a leader.  And, due to our human nature to worry, I have my doubts that I'll be able to figure it out.  I've been put in leadership positions many times throughout my life, and I am surprised each time to have been chosen.  I just don't see it in me.

But, if others do, I'll trust that maybe God does too and maybe this is something else He wants to develop in me.  According to the leadership book I'm reading, leaders inspire a shared vision of the future.  I've never been great at looking towards the future - I tend to be a one-day-at-a-time kind of person.

However, in the Global Leadership Summit I attended recently, Pastor Bill Hybels challenged us to ask God for a bigger vision.  I'm rather nervous and scared to do that.  I guess it is a fear that more will be required of me than I have to give.  But past experience should assure me otherwise - that God provides every step along the way.

I guess it's time to ask for a bigger vision.