Tomorrow, P. Stan, P. Gary Thorton, Stambo, and myself are flying out to the beautiful city of Flordenopolis in Brazil for a weekend conference with a few churches in South America.. My Dad, P. Stambo, and P. Drew Wilzcheck are coming from the States, which is going to be fantastic... We are there for the weekend then on Monday we head down to Buenos Airos in Argentina to be with P. Lamos , his fifteen kids and the church. P. Drew is going to continue his trip by coming with us on the day and a half bus trip. Stambo and I where talking a few months ago about this trip and we both decided to make the trip best as possible, we needed the missionary from Tennessee to be with us. Two days later P. Stan received a call from the states, and who do you think it was? The touring missionary, P. Drew himself who just caught wind of are plans to cover a few thousand miles in a little less then 2 weeks. He quoted P. Stan his famous line "I cant miss out on this run" and Just like that Me and Stambos prayer was answered. So we are excited to have P. Drew with us on are endeavor to cover thousands of miles of road in just a few days. We couldnt be happier, he is the man.....
Along with visiting the believers in these countries and building them up we will be participating in one of my favorite American past times. Eating. I was told by the Big Man himself (P. Stan) that when we cross the border from Brazil into Argentina, I will be entering into Beef Country. More Cows cover the hills of Argentina then the sand along the sea shore. He tells me innumerable Cows roam the country side that are well feed, hardly worked and most importantly ready to eat. Sirloin, Filet, Bottom Roast, T-Bone, any cut your little heart can think of will be at our disposal. Beef For breakfast, Beef for lunch, Beef for dinner and for the Argentinians late night dinner (which is totally bonus and got me excited). They are known for firing up the grill at 11 pm for a late night rap. How could you not love talking about the word with a T-Bone in one hand and a Filet in the other. Come On, simply amazing. ... We will be up to our elbows in Beef...
If anyone back home has been to the all you can eat beef restaurant "Fogo De Chow" downtown Baltimoe, you know what I am talking about. This restaurant changed my whole perspective on eating. It is Basically pure gluttony... Fogo De Chow is a brazilian steak house that I am told is setup just as a steak house in Brazil. Which means you have copious amounts of beef coming to your table for as long as you want. They actually give you a card that is "red" on oneside and "green" on the other when you first come into the place. You place the card in front of you on the table. As long as your card is on green the servers swarm around your table with huge sears of Beef. They procede to load your plate with steaming hot red meat, Lamb chops, pork (which is a waist of space) and some of the best Filet Migon you could taste. My cousin Bailey didnt turn his card over for 2 1/2 hrs. and let me tell you he kept up with those servers. They were working overtime. It was an amazing site to see. I have to admit I was proud of him, he can eat with the best of them. He puts me under the table. So Bals I will be thinking of you while I am down there, wish you were down here with..... I think you can tell that I love to eat. Going to Fogo is definatly something you do with the guys cause I dont think girls are too into having a contest with you to see how many pounds of red meat you can eat.But when you go with the guys its game time. Its a little pricey to the wallet, but if you can eat, it pays for itself. Little side note, dont plan on doing strenous activities the next day, its hard to move....
Church tonight was fantastic. ( I am trying to use other words then good. I am realizing the more i write these blogs that i have to get my face in a Dictionary and learn a few Synonyms for good. Its killing me so it must be killing you people who are reading these stupendous Blogs. I pulled up a dictionary online and typed in good for synonyms and it gave me 477 different words, so I think I have options. Alot of them would make me sound ridiculous, but thats ok. I could use words such as admirable, excellent, marvelous, proficient, stupendous, superb, superior, first-class, first-rate, congruous, salubrious, but I usually settle for good. I am working on it so hang with me..).. P. stan preached an advantageous message on "Being Sent". A perfect message for a man or woman on the field. If we are submitted to our Authority, our covering, and are sent out by them we have great liberty in what we are doing. We have Grace in our walk ,great Authority in our lives and are covered. We here in Peru are not lone sharks out by our selves but are under Baltimore and through that we are covered and have great Grace for what we are doing.And we really do..... I love that we have Authority in our lives. We can have confidence in what we are doing. We dont boast in our own Authority or confidence but in his. God has it for us......
Sunday morning I did the intro. I preached on Rm 8.35-38, we are lambs going to the slaughter but we are more then conquers because we could never be separated from his love. Who has the power the lamb or the one who is going to take the lambs life. Naturally it seems easy. The one with the Knife seems to have the power, but its not. Its the lamb who has the authority because he lays down his life. He is the one who has control.... Christ came to die, he gave his life. He told Pilate, "You have no authority other then what was given to you from my Father" Ha Ha. You cant take my Life, but I am giving it as a ransom for sin.. The King of Kings, All powerful, creator of heaven and earth humbled himself to give his life. God all mighty became a lamb because he had all power... Rev 5 he is a lamb but he is also a Lion. The powerful Lion can also be a Lamb.. That through becoming a Lamb he won the battle..... That we also are Lambs going to the slaughter but through this death we have the Lion nature in us. That we have these two natures in us, and sometimes we are weak little lambs, but we know also that we are lions with his power and authority reigning in our mortal bodies.. That sometimes we may feel as though we have no authority in our life, no power, no motivation. Just know that we are more then conquers and all power in heaven and earth belongs to God and in Ephesians 4. He is in all, IN YOU.. We have the ability to lay our lives down because we know of resurrection life and his Power... Praise God.... Psalm 119:25 "My Soul clings to the dust but Quicken me according to your word".... Gideon says "I am the weakest", God says "Valiant man of God". Exodus 3 "Moses your my man" Moses says "Who am I oh Lord."and God responds and says "Just Go". Receive this power, this nature of Christ that is now in YOU. He was a Lamb but Also he was also a Lion. WE HAVE AUTHORITY. Its good to have confidence in who we are. To know that we have great authortiy. The world says you weak, weak people in 1 Cor 1, you are waisting your life losing it on this foolish Christ buisness. But we say "THE CROSS IS MY POWER". Me losing my life means that i now have the Lion Nature in me, Faith that can move mountains, Power in my words, in my decisions, In my prayers, in my Life.... We are overcomers of the world in 1 Jn 5, the evil one touches us not... Praise God
Pray for our trip in the next couple of weeks..... I come back from the trip and have only a few weeks left. We get back on the 12th of April then stambo leaves a few days later. I am here for a couple weeks then I leave. I cant believe it, time flies.... Hopefully i get a few more blogs in before i go back who knows... God Bless, love you guys....
Jay
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
BORDER CROSSING
Good times the past few weeks. We got back from ecuador a couple weeks ago now ( time flys), we had a fantastic time with P. mike stevens and the church up there. Me and stambo stayed at Edwardos house with his wife and two daughters. ( His last name might be Ramerez but i am not sure, sounds good but it could be another edwardo i know because i know so many..i think i just botched his name too, its all good he wont see it) The crazy part of staying with him was that he lived in Baltimore for 7 years with his family going to Bible college and i remember seeing him all the time but i never talked to him. He is such a cool guy, the whole time i was staying there I was thinking 'should i apologize to him for never saying hi to him in the hallway when i saw him all the time at church...',Ah it s all good.. Its so funny when your in Baltimore the amount of people in the church that you dont know at all, then you end up living with them on the mission field, like the thortons. Never talked to P. Gary or Lecet thorton in my life, didnt really even know of them. They both have been in the ministry for like 30 yrs, in Baltimore for ever and I never bumped into them. Probably saw them a million times but never stopped and introduced. So i guess the moral of the story is, You know. Introduce yourself to that foreign bible school student that you see all the time because you may end up at there kitchen table thinking " I used to see these people all the time and never talked to them". Actually right before I left to come down here on a Wednesday night. My dad had us pray with our neighbor in church, so i turned and introduced myself to the man next to me. We prayed together then finished a little early so we had a chance to exchange a few words. My comment to him was "Oh is this your first time to this church", were he replied "No i have been in the church now for about 5 yrs." I could not believe that. Its probably because i sit in the same spot most of the time for some strange reason. Actually I think alot of people are like that, I dont know why we do that but we do.(shout out to all you who sit on the right side of church, you know who you are.. We are like a family over there, sticking together.) The discovery channel could do a show on us and how we allways migrate to the same position for service. When you go on the other side of the chapel its kind of funny because you see people you havent seen in a long time, and you think "oh thats where they have been".... This blog is probably pretty random right now because i am just rolling, its all good... But back to edwardo , what a cool guy, we had a great time with him. Making us breakfast every morning, KFC delivery for dinner, late night history lessons that where so interesting on South American politics, and religion, (this continent is pretty corrupt, whats new). Then on the last night around 1 in the morning we popped in "sea biscuit" , actually a really good movie which takes place at pimlico.. Just a good time with an Ecuadorian brother.. We were there for 5 days with 2 full days of travel there and back. It took 28 hours to get back with all the border crossing schananagins that those police officers love to do. The line could be 100 deep, babies screaming, people passing out in line, but they still move at a pace that would make my 87 year grandmother look like a Speedster at the crossing. Flipping through every page of every persons passport, checking mabey to see what, I dont know, i am still trying to figure that one out. Then they allways have to stop and go in the back room to crack a couple of jokes with the other hard working crossing guards. I really think they are in some sort of time warp where time doesnt exist. Or mabey they enjoy seeing people suffer in those lines. That is my only conclusion with those guys, pure enjoyment from the mental suffering of people in line. Those guys kill me. Looking at you like you are strapped with gun powder from head to toe. Looking at your cell phone as though it could be a detinator. I understand they are just doing there job, but pick up the pace Gomez.. God teaches you patience.
We have had a good time since we got back. The church is doing fantastic, along with Bible college. P.stan has been in Budapest and Romania for the past 2 weeks.. Its amazing he entrusted us with the church, and thank God we havent had church split since he has been gone. He is coming home on Tuesday, which will be great. I know as soon as he gets home we are heading right down to the b-ball court to have a "21" battle. He is itching for Stambo and Schaller on the court, I know he is..
The nets down at the courts have been going south as of late so we decided to get some chain nets last week. Man was that a good call. You should have seen the players when they caught wind that we got some nets. They were all staring at me while i was holding the nets in a bag.(chain nets are a notch up from normal ones, because they have a better look plus they last longer) When i took them out to show them it was if i was pulling gold bars out of the bag, they watched with such delight when they came out of the plastic bag. It was if i had the keys to a new car for each person down there. Rejoicing!!!! I honestly think one of the hoopers was close to tears as he watched them go up. (It was a beautiful site). Me and Stambo became over night living legends down there, they love us cause of those nets. Popularity down here comes for a simple 8.99 purchase of some hoop nets....
A little side note for those who it is directed too.. Team peru (collins, stambo, thorton, schaller) is getting ready for defending champs norman, colban, and robbins, at the annual b-ball convention tourney in Baltimore this summer. You boys better be getting ready because we are coming at you full steam. Plays are even being drawn up. Plays you guys have never seen or heard of like "Carolina , Motion, and West Point", watch out.. Norman I know of the weight gain so i hope that membership at Lynn Bricks is paying off because those extra plates at the family gatherings will be owing you on the court.. Robbins, I know you are going to be in the love clouds out there and Colban we are going to be all over that baby J.... Ha ha!!!!
We had class tonight, I was loving it, I didnt want to stop. taught hermanutics and Acts, its fun when you start rolling on a subject and get into it. Acts 15 tonight, with the apostles dealing with the legalism creeeping in. That we dont put any legalism on people but rather give them life and let the spirit convict and change people. That its not my job to go around and tell people the "101" things to do to be a an upstanding christian. Rather i know that God takes things out of our lives and we really dont know how exactly it happened, But that i have the testimony that God took it out of my life. Peter says in that chapter "We are not going to put the yoke of bondage on men, the same yoke that our fathers could not even bare". You talk to people and they say "yes I believe that its grace that you are saved, but you also have to change". The "also" is never good. Grace also.. These people underestimate the power of the Spirit. Romans 7.22 " I delight in the law of the inward man". That i have the newness of life in Romans 6.4 and thats what will change a person. If a person comes into the church and they curse, drink and what not, do i condemn or do I love and watch God change them. Its so good the message we preach because if it was not for the Spirit it would produce lawlessness. But rather it produces liberty to serve and in James the fruit is good works. Not because we have to but that this is Gods life in me. Imagine if pauls ministry was to go to Galatia, Ephesus, Corinth and lay on them that if they want eternal life that they must first change, or stop immediatley there wayward living. I dont think I would be here right now, actually i know i wouldnt be here. But rather except christ and follow him to see your life change. I love it...
Allright my battery is about to run out so i am rolling over to the couch to pass out.. Sunday is a Big Day.. Abd, Service, Radio, evangelism, and then Bible study. Me and stambo did grace hour last week, all we talked about was Bible college, we were pushing it. This week i think we are doing the same. We took a few of our Bible college students with us unknown to them that they would be talking on nation wide radio. You should have seen the young mans face when he was in the booth with us and I called on him on air to share his testimony. He was caught off guard... So good... Thanks for the prayers.. Also last note, i got an email from gabe aluisy and sliva that they are heading out for the other side of the world. Its awesome. I mention this because if anyone has a chance to check out slivas blog its so funny, classic sliva. I was laughing so hard reading it.When i was reading it i could hear sliva in my head.. If you read it you have to imagine sliva saying it to you.. Its priceless. I love that guy...... Adios!!!!!
We have had a good time since we got back. The church is doing fantastic, along with Bible college. P.stan has been in Budapest and Romania for the past 2 weeks.. Its amazing he entrusted us with the church, and thank God we havent had church split since he has been gone. He is coming home on Tuesday, which will be great. I know as soon as he gets home we are heading right down to the b-ball court to have a "21" battle. He is itching for Stambo and Schaller on the court, I know he is..
The nets down at the courts have been going south as of late so we decided to get some chain nets last week. Man was that a good call. You should have seen the players when they caught wind that we got some nets. They were all staring at me while i was holding the nets in a bag.(chain nets are a notch up from normal ones, because they have a better look plus they last longer) When i took them out to show them it was if i was pulling gold bars out of the bag, they watched with such delight when they came out of the plastic bag. It was if i had the keys to a new car for each person down there. Rejoicing!!!! I honestly think one of the hoopers was close to tears as he watched them go up. (It was a beautiful site). Me and Stambo became over night living legends down there, they love us cause of those nets. Popularity down here comes for a simple 8.99 purchase of some hoop nets....
A little side note for those who it is directed too.. Team peru (collins, stambo, thorton, schaller) is getting ready for defending champs norman, colban, and robbins, at the annual b-ball convention tourney in Baltimore this summer. You boys better be getting ready because we are coming at you full steam. Plays are even being drawn up. Plays you guys have never seen or heard of like "Carolina , Motion, and West Point", watch out.. Norman I know of the weight gain so i hope that membership at Lynn Bricks is paying off because those extra plates at the family gatherings will be owing you on the court.. Robbins, I know you are going to be in the love clouds out there and Colban we are going to be all over that baby J.... Ha ha!!!!
We had class tonight, I was loving it, I didnt want to stop. taught hermanutics and Acts, its fun when you start rolling on a subject and get into it. Acts 15 tonight, with the apostles dealing with the legalism creeeping in. That we dont put any legalism on people but rather give them life and let the spirit convict and change people. That its not my job to go around and tell people the "101" things to do to be a an upstanding christian. Rather i know that God takes things out of our lives and we really dont know how exactly it happened, But that i have the testimony that God took it out of my life. Peter says in that chapter "We are not going to put the yoke of bondage on men, the same yoke that our fathers could not even bare". You talk to people and they say "yes I believe that its grace that you are saved, but you also have to change". The "also" is never good. Grace also.. These people underestimate the power of the Spirit. Romans 7.22 " I delight in the law of the inward man". That i have the newness of life in Romans 6.4 and thats what will change a person. If a person comes into the church and they curse, drink and what not, do i condemn or do I love and watch God change them. Its so good the message we preach because if it was not for the Spirit it would produce lawlessness. But rather it produces liberty to serve and in James the fruit is good works. Not because we have to but that this is Gods life in me. Imagine if pauls ministry was to go to Galatia, Ephesus, Corinth and lay on them that if they want eternal life that they must first change, or stop immediatley there wayward living. I dont think I would be here right now, actually i know i wouldnt be here. But rather except christ and follow him to see your life change. I love it...
Allright my battery is about to run out so i am rolling over to the couch to pass out.. Sunday is a Big Day.. Abd, Service, Radio, evangelism, and then Bible study. Me and stambo did grace hour last week, all we talked about was Bible college, we were pushing it. This week i think we are doing the same. We took a few of our Bible college students with us unknown to them that they would be talking on nation wide radio. You should have seen the young mans face when he was in the booth with us and I called on him on air to share his testimony. He was caught off guard... So good... Thanks for the prayers.. Also last note, i got an email from gabe aluisy and sliva that they are heading out for the other side of the world. Its awesome. I mention this because if anyone has a chance to check out slivas blog its so funny, classic sliva. I was laughing so hard reading it.When i was reading it i could hear sliva in my head.. If you read it you have to imagine sliva saying it to you.. Its priceless. I love that guy...... Adios!!!!!
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