Friday, October 19, 2007

Some things can't be bought at Wal-Mart

A friend's 3 or 4 year old nephew told him that they needed to go to Wal-Mart. He had been recently blessed with a new baby sister, who was about 3 months old. When Uncle asked what they needed to buy he was told, "Daddy has teeth, Mommy has teeth, I have teeth, but baby sister doesn't."

Obviously, Wal-Mart doesn't sell teeth, but after I go through laughing I thought about how many other things you can't buy at Wal-Mart. If you thought this was a Wal-Mart bashing, sorry to disappoint you--I generally shop Wal-Mart or Sam's first, then go elsewhere if I can't find it there.

Many are looking for happiness and way too many think it comes from things you can buy at Wal-Mart (or some other store). It doesn't! Solomon had money to buy everything he could think of, and he did, and his conclusion was that all those things were vanity.

Inner peace, which leads to happiness, comes from knowing you are at peace with God. Such knowledge can only come from HIS Word, what He has revealed to us in the Bible. You can buy the Bible, but you can't buy an understanding of it--that only comes through study.

Tol

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

"All the comforts of home"

My time in Santo Domingo went well--it was hot, but I had a fan over my bed, so I slept well. The power went off several times, but never for more than 30 minutes at a time. At one point I thought about our title and it was pretty close to true--I had most of the comforts of home, but especially when it comes to worshipping that ain't necessarily so.

Many of the churches that meet on Sunday morning (almost all only meet once on Sunday--morning or afternoon) begin worship at 8 AM. Why? Because of the neighborhood noise--everyone has the windows open and about 10 or 11 AM everybody gets going, which means they turn up their music as loud as it will go. Since they are done by 10 now, it doesn't matter. Another church stopped meeting on Friday night for the same reason. How we take for granted not only the A/C, but the blessing of being able to worship without outside distractions.

Although most brethren who work, work until 5 PM or so, many of the churches meet at 5 PM during the week--the power has a tendency to go off for a couple of hours from around dark (6:30-8 or so). By meeting at 5, they're done by 6:30 at the latest, so avoid that problem altogether. Again, how blessed we are to have uninterrupted power.

Then again many of those who meet at that hour don't meet in the church building--it's simply too hot there. Many meet under a shade tree in ome of the brethren's yard, which means they must transport chairs, etc. back and forth.

Do we take advantage of the blessings we have to worship God, or do we look for excuses not to? No matter how "bad" we have it here, it's better than most brethren have it.

Tol

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Culture in the church

Working with churches in another country, or even another culture is always interesting, but it requires some flexability.
Here is a picture of some of the members in the church in San Isidro, Dominican Republic. I preached here twice recently and I noticed how much the background of the brethren has influenced their worship. You probably already noticed that all the women have some kind of covering--most of these brethren came from a Pentecostal background and the Pentecostals there teach a woman should wear a veil, not wear pants or jewelry, much less make up. This background also affects their worship--each man who reaches the podium must first shout, "Who lives? Christ!" and there are many "Gloria a Dios" and "amen". They are very involved in the worship service, which is certainly not a bad thing.
But there was something else I noticed--the singing. Most churches in the Caribbean sing loud--they don't even know when I sing "wrong", but the men here sing particularly loud, almost shouting. I puzzled on that for a song or two then remembered that they are almost all military men--active or retired. Immediately I pictured a drill sgt. shouting "I can't hear you!", which explained why they sing soooo loud.
The beauty of the Gospel is that it can be taught and obeyed in any culture--you don't have to know Greek (or Arabic like some religions teach). You don't have to be an American or adopt American ways. All you have to do is do what God says, in your culture.
Tol

Friday, October 05, 2007

Possibilities


The Dominican Republic is a country of almost 9 million people and relatively few churches. During my week there I worked with churches in and around Santo Domingo, the capital. 4 days I worked on the East side of the city, with churches ranging in attendance from 20 to 75. The other 3 days I worked on the North side, where between 65-75 were present. They came from as far away as Bonao (an hour's bus trip) and several points in between.
People here are beginning to have more time for spiritual things--most have the necessities of life, so now they can think about other things. Yet there are few full time preachers to take advantage of these opportunities. Please pray that God will send laborers.
Tol

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Counting the cost

One of the big growth industries in the Dominican Republic is tourism, but you already knew that, didn't you? Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, La Romana--we all recognize the names, right.

I met Eduardo, a young man who's been a Christian about 6 months now, in Santo Domingo. He is in the university and is studying tourism. He was already in his 3rd year when he became a Christian and now wishes he had chosen another career. Oh he's bright enough and has a good personality, so he can certainly make it, but his concern is how such a job will affect him as a Christian.

I was very impressed that a young man who's only been a Christian a short time would already be thinking along these lines. Having worked in hotels for several years when I was much younger, I know there are things that will make it harder for him. Yet he can overcome them, with the help of Christ and his brethren.

Do you encourage young people to count the cost as they choose a career? Another of the young men in the church there is studying to be a lawyer--another difficult career for a Christian. Now being a lawyer in the Hispanic Caribbean is not the same as being a lawyer in the States--much more of it is drawing up legal papers, etc. Even to be a notary you have to be a lawyer. A sister asked me one time if I thought a lawyer could be an elder. I quipped that I wasn't sure a lawyer could be a Christian, much less an elder. I know it can be done, but it seems to me there is more potential for problems than in many other fields.

Parents, do you guide (not command) your children in their choice of a career? There are careers where lots of money can be made, but most of them pose a great risk to a Christian. Is the money worth the loss of their soul? Other careers are only available in the big cities, like New York, where the church is weak. Are they able to withstand the pressure from the worldliness on every side, with few fellow Christians to support them?

We as parents cannot choose our children's career, but we can help them count the cost.

Tol

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Another first for me

I preached the first night I was in Santo Domingo in an area called "El Mamon" (a mamon is a type of fruit). It's a small village out in the country--most of the people worked (or work) on one of many farms or ranches in the area. Attendance at Sunday morning services ranges from 15-25 and they meet again on Mon. night (ladies class) and Tues. and Thurs. for Bible study. They have a very adequate block building--it's not completely done, but it's a very good start.

I assumed we would be meeting in the building, but when we arrived everything was set up behind one of the members houses, under a very large mango tree. As the power frequently goes out shortly after dark, they now meet from 5 PM to 6:30, just before it gets dark. This couple has a lot of chickens and it didn't take me long to see which was their favorite spot to roost--you guessed it, the mango tree. Now I've swallowed more than my share of bugs while preaching and one time preached to less than 10 people and at least 10,000 ladybugs, but preaching under the roost of chickens is new.

When it came time for me to preach I chose my spot to stand (there was no pulpit, so I could stand whereever I wanted to) very carefully and kept an eye on chicken movements above. I guess one hen didn't appreciate my presence--she squawked for almost 5 minutes before finally jumping up into the tree.

So when the kids get too noisy where you worship, just remember it could be worse.

Tol