"The simple life"

I preached Sunday in Mt. Granby, Grenada—33 present in the morning, 18 that night. As I drove back to the hotel after 8 PM people were sitting on the side of the road the entire way. They were groups of young boys, men, women, women and children, all just liming (relaxing).

They were on the road because outside is cooler than inside, but also because the road is “where it’s happening”. You see your friends there, the taxi buses pass, a friend may pass in his car, etc. The highlight of their day is the evening, relaxing with friends.

During the day life is also simple—working in the garden or cooking and caring for the children. Most people will take the time for a Bible study. You know when the bus comes up and who got on it, who got off, etc. We passed the granddaughter of a man we were going to see and our “guide” knew he had gone to town, but that the bus had come up and he should be home—he was. The granddaughter wasn’t sure whether he was home, but our guide was.

Now on the flip side, you must realize that this kind of life also means you have a few clothes to wear, enough food to eat—mostly what you yourself can grow in your garden, and not much cash money. You don’t have your own car, so you must wait for the taxi bus and squeeze in with the other 15 people already inside it. Travel is to the city in your parish, or maybe to the capital. It may be an easy life, but it has its drawbacks.

If this life is too boring for you, sooner or later you will immigrate to England, the US, or Canada. You know what that rat race can be, but the physical rewards are quite attractive to many. How many people work long, hard hours to have the cars, the house, and all the other trimmings?

There is a third life—a life in which, yes you must make a living, whether in Grenada or the US, or anywhere else in the world. In this life, the most important thing to you is whether or not you make it to heaven—everything else revolves around that. What you have of this worlds goods is not so important, but rather what treasure you have in heaven, “where moth does not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal”.

Which lifestyle are you pursuing???

Tol

"There is a way . . . "

Grenada is an island 21 miles long and 12 miles wide—not very big as countries go, but a typical island in the Eastern Caribbean. There are only a few main roads, with reasonable signs—there are those junctions or roundabouts where there is nothing, but generally speaking you can figure it.

David and I set out this morning to a certain place. We got on a road we’ve traveled one other time, so that part was easy. From our previous experience on this same road we’d learned that the map was only a guide—what it showed as a “main road” might look like a street, be closer (or farther) than it appeared, and might have no sign at all. So when we got to Grenville we headed north and quickly came to a roundabout. Two of the roads were obviously not the one we wanted, but that left two other choices. One of them led in the direction we wanted to go, so we took it. Within a couple of miles it brought us back to the road we had been on earlier. Now we could have asked directions—there were plenty of people liming (relaxing) on the side of the road, but we had time. So we went back to the first roundabout and took the 4th road. In a mile or so we reached another intersection and before all was said and done we traveled on all 3 of them, only to circle around (one a 5 or 6 mile circle) to some point on our original road. On several of these false paths we felt fairly confident because they seemed to be going in the direction we were seeking. After about an hour or this, we retraced our steps on one of the first roads we’d taken, made a left (away from our destination) instead of a right and very quickly reached our destination.

As I was reflecting on our journey, I remembered the passage in Proverbs (14:12 & 16:25), “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” There were a number of roads that seemed right, but weren’t in our search today. Interestingly enough, those that felt “wrong” usually turned out to be right. Although they didn’t lead where we wanted to go, they didn’t lead to death, or even damage.

But such is not true of false doctrine or moral decisions. To borrow a phrase from an old song, “It feels so right, it can’t be wrong” is used to justify things from fornication to alcoholism, but this way “that seems right” leads to death. Emotional pleas against plain Bible statements fall into the same category: “I don’t believe God would send someone to hell for such a little thing.” “I don’t see anything wrong with it”.

The only sure path is the one God has commanded—I may not understand why, but the fact that God has said it should be enough. We may later understand why or in this life we may never understand why, but the fact remains “there is a way that seems right unto a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Tol

Those "Christians"

To the right you will see a costume for Carnival in Trinidad, and I can tell you this is NOT one of the more revealing ones. Usually in Feb. Trinidad has their equivalent of Mardi Gras and everything you associate with Mardi Gras is there double.

When slavery was outlawed in the British Empire many from India were brought to Trinidad as indentured servants--they worked for X number of years, then were freed. Today the population of Trinidad is about half Indians and half West Indians--Trinidad is the largest concentration of Indians outside of India itself. Most of the Indians are nominally Hindu and the West Indians are nominally "Christian"--you know what sense I'm using Christian here.

On many levels the 2 cultures have mixed and coexist more or less peacefully--curry and roti are now endemic in West Indian food. But there is always a contrast drawn between the two cultures and one of these areas is in religion. In reality most of the people on both sides are not anything religiously--they don't attend worship, pray only occassionally, but if asked would acknowledge being ________ .

In talking with Hindus and former Hindus, frequently they bring up the disconnect between "Christian" morality and Carnival, which usually lasts a couple of weeks and is a time of hedonism--drinking, partying, dancing, prancing nearly naked through the streets to the accompaniment of music, liquor, and open sex. These "Christians" claim to be the moral ones, who worship the one true God, but look how they act.

In contrast, the Hindu festival of lights, Divali, which takes place in Dec. is quite different. It is touted as the largest alcohol free party in the Caribbean and is well organized with fashion shows, flea markets, etc. None of the debauchery associated with Carnival is part and parcel of Divali.

What a sad commentary on "Christianity"--it is known for it's immorality while Hinduism is known for the lack of alcohol. Is it any wonder most Hindus in Trinidad won't even consider Christianity? With what they see of it, why would they? Like many others all over the world they reject Christianity, without having ever seen the real thing.

It's no different in the United States, or anywhere else for that matter. As people see the hypocrisy or just the simple foolishness practiced in the name of Christianity, it's no wonder they reject it--I do to. I was talking to a lady yesterday whom I see about once a week. Something came up that I was studying with our neighbors, whom she also knows and something was said about "church". Dana and I have been trying to find an opening to talk to her, but nothing, until yesterday. "I'm liking what I'm hearing about your church more and more" she told me, then related why she stopped going to the Roman Catholic church--the priest was falling asleep during his sermon, drunk from the "wine" of the Lord's supper. And she is not alone--people just like her are everywhere. They're looking for fulfillment, know they need God, but haven't found Him in "organized religion".

There is nothing we can do about other churches, but let us never be the one someone points to as the reason they've rejected Christianity. The devil provides them with enough excuses, let's don't give them any more.

But we also need to understand where people are coming from and approach them from this point of view. When people tell me about abuses in other churches, I will agree with them that that is not right and talk about that we try to do ONLY what the Bible says. At least in the Caribbean most people feel you should do what the Bible says, so we get away from "churchanity" and get back to real Christianity.

Tol

Signs of Spring

Ah yes, the signs of Spring are everywhere in Puerto Rico--the sea almond tree is losing all its leaves, the mosquito fogging truck was out tonight, and the bugs are crawling. Living in the tropics you're much closer to nature--too close Dana would say. We don't have window screens and we're getting sweeps on the bottoms of the doors, well one of these days, so bugs don't have too much trouble getting in. We spray for them, so the roaches never make it more than about 10 feet inside before they turn on their backs, but the dead bodies are still there. I was at the neighbors tonight around twilight and they had to turn the lights off--the flying termites swarmed in. We don't have lizards in the house, as is sooo common in St. Croix, which is not always a good things--at least they ate some of the bugs.

Is this not what you think of when you think of Spring? People in the deep south probably have much the same feeling we do--"Is winter already over? Here comes the hot weather!" The next 3 months are probably the hottest of the year--it's hot, humid, and sticky, but it does get slightly better in June or so.

I still look forward to Spring, but I just wish it would wait a few weeks more.

Tol