Things you can find on an outing

Our family really enjoys getting out of the house. We love to go on walks in the neighborhood. We have a couple of parks near our house where Elisa likes to play. It is a good way for us to stay connected with each other and take in our surrounds here in Brazil.

There are times, though, when our surroundings are laced with darkness. You can read a lot in the Bible, primarily in the Old Testament, about sacrifices to false gods. We see a lot of sacrifices here in our neighborhood and in Brazil. A lot of dark religions were brought to Brazil during the time of slave trading. Now, there are many, many different sects and cults that practice sacrifices. In the evening it is not unusual to spot a candle burning on a street corner with a bottle of alcohol (probably Bourbon) near by as a gift to a god. Sometimes you see or hear of animal sacrifices. I have heard of large animals like pigs being sacrificed in the city, but have never witnessed anything.

The following is a series of pictures of a family outing we took yesterday. These pictures were taken about 3 blocks from our house.

Now I want to ask you not to skip ahead and look at the pictures below. Let's make a game of this. Elisa and I are posing in this picture. What caught our attention was actually across the street on the corner. Let's go in for a closer look...

This is the corner I was referring to. You can see that there is definitely something on the curb. Maybe it is trash or a bunch of leaves...

Or maybe it is a sacrifice that was either offered to the false god in the middle of the day or wasn't cleaned up from the night before.

This is a chicken that was sacrificed. It looks as though there is something like cornmeal with it and some other items. It could be that the cloth that the chicken is resting on belonged to the person that left the sacrifice. I don't really know though.

I wanted to share this with you so that you could see what we deal with some of the time. Spiritual Warfare is real and we are engaged in ways that we never imagined 5 years ago. Satan has a grip on a lot of people not just in Brazil, but throughout the world. What do we do to fight against spiritism and acts that don't glorify the true living God? We pray and we arm ourselves with wisdom, integrity, peace, love and joy in Jesus. We don't become numb to what is around us. We reach out to and pray for those who are lost to see and understand the truth of our salvation in Christ. If anything, things like what our family saw yesterday should make us more determined to fight Satan every day with all that we have: physically, mentally and especially spiritually.

"Household gods give worthless advice, fortune-tellers predict only lies, and interpreters of dreams pronounce falsehoods that give no comfort. So my people are wandering like lost sheep; they are attacked because they have no shepherd." Zechariah 10:2

Irresponsible Missionaries

Don't let the title of this post freak you out! In some cases, being irresponsible is a good thing. Our team learned a lot about this when Bryan and Jacqueline Bost were here for a seminar in June. They are very wise people who have taught us some very relevant things about being missionaries in the house church setting.

Our teammates, Kevin and Benay Blume, wrote a great post about being irresponsible on their blog. I would love for you to read it. Just "click" here and you will see the importance of being an irresponsible missionary.

Chácara Graduation

Today was a great day! Not only was it Father's Day in Brazil, but it was graduation time for 7 guys at the Chácara! These days the Chácara is always at full capacity. If someone leaves, that space become occupied almost immediately. The thing is - hardly anyone is leaving!

The rehabilitation program at the Chácara lasts for 9 months. Today we had what I think was the largest graduating class ever! The guys are welcome to stay and continue at the Chácara for more than 9 months, but leaving sooner than 9 months means they haven't met the goals and requirements of the program.

Today's graduation consisted of a uplifting worship service that included 6 of the 7 guys giving short testimonies. Let me tell you - it is something special to have one of these guys share their testimony, but to have 6 is nothing short of powerful. Listening to their stories can seriously change your perspective on things. It was all I could do to keep from being overwhelmed emotionally. I felt a lot of joy at the Chácara today.

It was a very encouraging and uplifting time for all the guys - graduates of the program and individuals who are still battling on against their addictions (By the way, Adão Claudio made it back to the Chácara and is fighting strong). The amount of love shown from family and friends was a treasure from the Lord. I am grateful that I spent part of my day celebrating with these brothers. I am sure that God is proud of the work and sacrifice that these 7 men have put into turning their lives around for His glory. What a great Father's Day present to our Father in heaven.

The Graduates (from left to right): Christian, Jefferson, Eduardo, Alexandre, Marcelo, Anderson & Rodrigo.

Alexandre shares some of his story.

Anderson has always had the support of his 5-year old son. Happy Father's Day, Anderson!

This is the Lima family (from l to r: Lucas, Lauro, Luis, Lorena & Gabrieli). Luis is a nephew/cousin of the Limas who has been at the Chácara for just one week. This was a very encouraging day for Luis.

All seven of the graduates became Christians at the Chácara. One of them announced that his mom will be baptized soon. I think it is obvious that the Lord used the transformed lives of her sons (Eduardo and Rodrigo both pictured above) to touch her heart for Jesus. Praise God!

Thoughts on Christian Conflict

I have found in my Christian walk that the path is often full of conflict. Why is that? Why must a people who are taught to love show so much disdain? Why do we fight and argue and hurt one another instead of treating each other with respect and love as the Bible commands.

I think a lot of this comes from fear. A lot of fear comes from what we don't understand or what we find uncomfortable.

I have been reading a book called Surprised by the Power of the Spirit by Jack Deere. Whether you believe that the miraculous gifts are for today or not this book gives some interesting Biblical insight into different gifts and how they benefit and encourage the body when they are used appropriately.

I really appreciate how this book is delivered; humbly and with plenty of scripture. When I am reading a book that is charismatic in nature I tend to have this discouraging voice in the back of my mind repeating over and over that this is something that causes division and can be hurtful. The fact is I am reading such things to help grow, mature and build up the church.

Today I read some wonderful words about how to deal with Christian conflict that really encouraged me. This is near the end of the chapter entitled Pursuing the Gifts with Diligence. I hope you also find the following encouraging...

One of the most eloquent admonitions I have ever encountered along these lines is in Bishop Burnet's preface to the classic work "The Life of God in the Soul of Man", written by Henry Scougal in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Here is what Burnet wrote:

There is scarce a more unaccountable thing to be imagined, than to see a company of men professing a religion, one great and main precept whereof is mutual love, forbearance, gentleness of spirit, and compassion to all sorts of persons, and agreeing in all the essential parts of its doctrine, and differing only in some less material and more disputable things, yet maintaining those differences with zeal so disproportioned to the value of them, and prosecuting all that disagree from them with all possible violence; or if they want means to use outward force, with all bitterness of spirit. They must needs astonish every impartial beholder, and raise great prejudices against such persons' religion, as made up of contradictions; professing love, but breaking out in all the acts of hatred.

Somewhere someone has to stop this. Someone has to stop returning insult for insult, unkindness for unkindness. Why not make up your mind that no matter what is said about you, you are not going to reply in kind. And never forget that immediately after Paul told his readers to "eagerly desire the greater gifts," he wrote, "If I... have not love, I gain nothing" (I Cor. 13:3).

I found this to hit home. May God bless you as he has me with these words.

House Call

As you may have read in the past, one of the ministries of our church family is helping a youth recovery center outside Porto Alegre in the town of Alvorada. We call this place the "Chácara". It can house up to 24 young men. Most of the guys out at the Chácara are trying to leave an addiction to drugs or alcohol or both. Matt Rehbein; Paulo Renato; and our sister in Christ, Irotilde go out to the Chácara every Wednesday to encourage and counsel the young men. They listen to their stories and try to help them through their struggles.

There have been a lot of successes over the last year. Many are staying for the duration of the 9 month program. Lately, we have seen more young men than we normally see overcome their past struggles. Some of the men have gone on to find jobs and have become the supporting husbands and fathers that their families needed.

Unfortunately, not all of the stories are good. There are guys who leave the Chácara prematurely and find themselves back in the mess that they were trying so desperately to get out of. One of these guys is Adão Claudio (Adam Claude). He left the Chácara after only being there for 4 months. He left for the wrong reasons and ended up regretting it. Before he knew it he was using drugs again.

Paulo Renato often gives the guys who have left the Chácara a call to see how they are doing. When he called Adão Claudio's house last week he found out some very disconcerting news. Adão Claudio's wife had just kicked him out of the house because he was using crack. His addiction to crack was still too much for him to handle and it was hurting his wife and 4 kids.

Paulo Renato, Kevin and I tried to set up a visit with him until we were finally able to make it happen yesterday. Paulo Renato spoke with Adão Claudio's wife again and found out that he was back at home. He didn't want to see us initially, but finally he agreed to the visit. Once we made it out to his house it was apparent that he had been struggling. He was much thinner than the last time I saw him and looked nervous. I think that he mainly felt ashamed because he knew that he messed up.

We spent between and hour and an hour and a half visiting with him and encouraging him. Paulo Renato invited him and his wife to the C.A.S.A. for visits and encouragement and Kevin offered the support of the house church that meets in his home. Adão Claudio is a good man who knows and loves God, but has allowed Satan to have a stronghold. After we prayed for him he embraced each one of us. You could feel the love and gratitude in the hugs he gave. It is possible that he will end up going back to the Chácara. I think he is open to that possibility, but he must humble himself first. He can and will overcome this difficult time with the support of the Lord and His family.

Adão Claudio during the "Every Man's Battle" study that Paulo Renato and I conducted at the Chácara earlier this year.

We care deeply for Adão Claudio and the other men of the Chácara. Different ideas of how we can better support these men are being mulled over and discussed. One idea is to start a house church for the men and their families once they no longer are at the Chácara. There are many possibilities. We ask you to join us in praying for wisdom and discernment to better know how to support Adão Claudio and men like him.