Jesus Was Homeless

Jesus was, indeed, homeless. He didn't have a home. He traveled during His entire ministry. That's what can be inferred from the lack of anything mentioning Him having a home. Always staying with other people. Now, we can assume He had a home during His "childhood" with Joseph and Mary, but between the instance when He was 12 at the temple and His showing up appearing around 30 years, there isn't much to indicate when He left His parents house or where He was or what He was doing. Just that He was homeless during His ministry. Reading through Luke chapter 4, for example, one can see that much of Jesus' time was spent traveling and doing works.

Now, I'm not suggesting everyone become homeless. Who would give shelter to the homeless if no one had a home? How would the human race have shelter from the elements? I don't think this is so much of a "be poor" thing as it is a "don't be in love with material possessions" thing. Take Matthew CH 19:16 - 30 for example. Jesus' instructions to the rich man were to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor. I interpret that this means that we should be willing to part with any material possession. Nothing I possess will be so valuable to me that I would keep it at risk of losing my soul.

Listed below are four links to two different news stories regarding use of wealth and large homes.

The first is in regards to a German Bishop who uses the Catholic Church's funding to renovate his mansion. He is then expelled for being luxurious and the mansion is then used to serve the needy and homeless. Very fitting indeed. Now, I assume that all reading this are against people using other people's money for such purposes and that this is clearly greed and borderline theft? We needn't spend much more time on this, right?

Now for the next story. A pastor in North Carolina uses money from his book sales to build a mansion for himself and his family. In terms of needs vs wants, this does fall into the category of greed. No one needs a mansion. He did use his own money, and for some, that's reason enough. So, in terms of capitol, he technically did not do anything wrong. He didn't steal or lie his way into having the money. And furthermore, I disagree with telling other people what to do with their own money. (albeit, if he had asked me for my opinion; spending $1 million on a house would not have been suggested) There is another discussion on how much time was spent at his pulpit advertising his book, but that's really neither here nor there. What we should focus on are things like "For the love of money is the root of all evil" and Jesus remarks regarding the rich entering Heaven as compared to a camel entering the eye of a needle. I think the answer here is not to tear down the people who don't quite do what they should, but to build up the people that are good examples (Such as John Wesley, who is known for his saying: "What should rise is not the Christian’s standard of living, but his standard of giving.").

Now, I'm not saying people are evil for not living in shacks. However, we should be aware that having the biggest and best house should not be a priority. Our focus should be what Jesus instructed us to do (The two greatest commandments and the Great Commission). Helping the less fortunate should be the prime objective. Putting justice to injustice; right to wrongs. Many people have spent years being homeless, traveling or even being in prison for the Lord. Moses had two separate 40 year trips through the desert. No home outside the makeshift tents that would be pitched during rest stops. John the Baptist wandered through the desert until his arrest. Paul traveled a lot, whenever he wasn't visiting a fellow disciple or in prison.

Sources:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/10/23/Pope-expels-German-luxury-bishop-from-diocese

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/german-bishop-of-blings-multimillion-euro-mansion-to-be-used-to-serve-needy-8907623.html

 http://www.wcnc.com/news/iteam/I-Team-How-a-pastor-paid-for-his-multi-million-dollar-home-228870731.html

http://www.wcnc.com/news/iteam/Elevation-Church-Pastor-responds-to-critics-of-his-17m-home-229413291.html

Batteries and The Sabbath

A while back, I found myself reaching for the lamp switch. As I turned it, the familiar blue flash indicated to me that the bulb had burned out. I then reached for the flashlight to find the light very dim, the batteries had died. Finding this an unacceptable means for shining light into the darkness, I went looking for fresh batteries.

This may be reaching*, but I couldn't help but see* the correlations between darkness/light* and blind/sight* analogies along with the concept of “burning out”* or needing “batteries recharged”*.

*All puns intended.

In Mark 1 : 35 – 39; Jesus himself goes into privacy to recharge His spiritual batteries. How much then should we, His followers, do so? There is great emphasis on sleep, eating and staying hydrated in order to recharge physical and mental batteries. How about the spiritual ones?

Everyone knows that they eventually recharge their phone and laptop batteries. Everyone knows they need to refill the gas (or petrol for those of you reading from Europe) in their vehicles. Everyone knows they need a holiday (vacation for those of you reading in the States) to recharge themselves. Yet, how easy is it to forget that prayer, meditation and fasting are all important to rest and recharge one's spiritual batteries?

Put another way; the Greek history includes the story of Marathon, a man who ran the distance from a military victory back to the capitol. Once he arrived and reported the news of the victory, he collapsed and died. In one view, this is an illustration of what happens when a person runs himself ragged without rest (Or in modern terms; a pastor running his Ford Focus ragged driving all over a county promoting His Church's events. It's not exactly taking the best care of a vehicle, considering gas prices and cost of repairs, but how could you not respect a man that devoted?). On the other hand, should this not be the enthusiasm that Christians should take when reporting the Good News of Christ? The pure, raw excitement of His Forgiveness should be motivation for anyone to run non-stop to those who haven't yet heard it. This is not to discredit the emotions of excitement, but it's still prudent to take rest when one can (even if it's merely a sleeping bag on concrete, which I can say from experience isn't at all conducive to proper rest).

Even God took a whole day to rest after creating the Heavens and the Earth and everything in it! On the seventh day (or Sabbath) He took a rest to view the work and saw that it was good. That is the other reason we have the sabbath (the 1st being to give praise to God), to rest from the week and recharge for the week to come.

All throughout the Bible, there are ebbs and flows. Periods of action and periods of rest. Even the entire nation of Israel had these periods. Sometimes they had feasts, others were that of famine. Periods of wealth and periods of enslavement. Times of peace and times of war.

What do yinz (you all, for those of you not from Pittsburgh) think? How do you rest and recharge spiritually?

Cinco!

The ting of excitement in the air. Plans made. Passports (almost) not forgotten. It's time.

ALLONS-Y!

Each trip has been an expansion and evolved form from the last. This trip is both the same and new.

More stoves* and some new projects. The new ones:

Water Filters: Through our contact known as Gaborrrrrrrr, we were able to connect with a non-profit that supplies water filters to schools. Now we are able to provide these to the school, the Church and the leivas farm. These are better designed filters that aren't expensive to replace and even then, the only part that would need replaced is the clay part inside.

Standing Vegetable Gardens: Debbie and Greg have a plan for vegetable gardens for the people of Joconal. Gardens that the chickens cannot reach (to steal away with the seeds).

Financial Education: Zak and his mother plan on giving financial education and determining what the people of Joconal know about finances.

*The Stoves: The stoves we have been installing for the people (which vent the smoke out of the kitchen) has been the project for the past 3 trips. It is now visible that some of them have built their own stoves themselves. It's beautiful, they're seeing how the stoves work and making their own (as opposed to waiting for us to come and do everything. Speaking of which. This time around, the men of each house are working with the stove construction. This is good on several levels. First, the men of each house are now taking ownership. Second, we are not
“magic-white-santa-clause” people. We are there to help, not become crutches. Third, this is hard work. Each piece of stove needs to be carried up a very steep, very muddy hill. All help is appreciated.

I should take the time now to note that Zak is listening to an Ipod. I make note for no other reason than that Zak is using an Apple product. Meanwhile, Mr. Covalt was kind enough to provide transportation and amuse us with personal anecdotes. Speaking of amusing, I was able to take a few video clips of Guatemalan driving 'dash-cam' style. Just some video evidence that some (or all) Guatemalans treat traffic laws more like guidelines than actual laws.

While there for our first day, we make our way over to Armando's brother's Church to do some work. We are to sand down the support beams and paint over them. Zak even found a bees nest, next to his face. Fortunately no one was stung. We celebrated with nachos in Antigua, which would have been more enjoyable without a noisy crowd of people who had also appeared.

After our 5-6 hours of driving through the country and the van not making it up the driveway, the mountains kick our buts from the start. Meanwhile, Zak and Greg must deal with re-adjusting the satellite for the internet – it is rather cumbersome and the signal is elusive.

After installing the stoves for the day, I sit down for a snack and take notes. I take a look at the trees and see a massive swarm of bees! Bees swarming in giant circles, staying away from the building, but making me nervous none the less. After a few minutes, these bees return to a branch. After another few minutes, I see a rock fly past the nest. Some of the kids are throwing rocks at the hive! Silly loco Guatemalan kids.

Now, the nearby Church that we also help has a new pastor. From what I've seen on this trip, I like him. He not only makes his way around the village, but he also assists with a few of the stoves. He is not afraid to do work and get his hands dirty. (No, really, the old stoves are basically blocks of dirt, so it's dirty work – or dirty deeds, done dirt cheap ;)

Over the course of the week, the battle continues. The mountains kick our buts and we get stove after stove installed. The other projects get completed and Kelly threatens me thrice. Her issue (one I agreed with at the start) was that my allergy to certain biting insects needs further review, or rather an appointment with a doctor. One more thing on my to-do list once we get back, but then again, I agree with the concern.

The final day of the week. We spend time in Antigua and I get to enjoy the ice cream and pizza shops I missed from last year. I also enjoy a cup of coffee and time alone with my thoughts walking the streets of Antigua. The many beautifully colored buildings and especially the Churches. I take the time to pray in one of them. As much as I joke about going and not returning, that might actually happen some time. It's a beautiful country and I feel deeply connected with the people I've met there over the years.