Moving is always an adventure, and this move has been no exception! As is often the case, there has been so much going on, and I have so much to talk about, that I have no time to do it!
Moving in Mexico has some added challenges that you may or may not experience in the country where you live. When you move into a house, it may be pretty stripped down (the owners of the previous house were very thankful that we had left a few lightbulbs!), and not always exactly ready to live in.
I’ve explained to some people that the previous house would have cost us a lot more in the long run, but this one is costing more in the short term. So we’ve been working on things like:
Installing one of the main downstairs windows
Repairing/replacing locks
Purchasing and putting in bathroom mirrors (still working on that one!)
Electrical/gas lines for the washer/dryer
Repair/replacement of the kitchen tap/drain
Installing lights where needed
Needed changes in paperwork
… and that’s just a start. But we’re making progress! And the house itself is in much better condition than the one we left.
Thank you so much to those who helped with the cost of some of these things through your special gifts for our move.
We were so thankful to have the generous help from friends in our church with cleaning and moving. We got the majority of the furniture and appliances moved in one day at the end of November, and then spent a good part of December moving the rest and cleaning the old house.
But on top of all the moving challenges, we had other adventures. For example,
A punctured tire while we were moving things from one house to the other
A car battery reached the end of its life as we were handing the keys of the old house to the owners
The same day, our internet stopped working
Power outages
Water pressure problems
But amid all these things, we have been able to reflect on God’s provision, the kindness of friends, and, in this season, the joy of the coming of the Messiah!
Outside of our dining room window is a tree that hummingbirds and sparrows just love. They are a constant reminder to us of Jesus’ words:
Are not five sparrows sold for two assaria? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
Luke 12:6-7
There’s still a lot to do as we unpack and continue to install what needs to be installed or repaired. But we’re so thankful for how God has provided over the past few weeks!
We’ve been looking at some biblical principles for art – and in a wider sense, creativity and communication. These are good things created by God, that the world desires to twist to its own purposes.
National Palace, Mexico City
So, what does the world do? It takes what actually belongs to God – creativity and communication. It denies any dependence on Him. It changes their purpose. And it mixes truth with error.
The world wants to change the truth – hide it – suppress it (Romans 1:18).
And here, concepts like art, communication, technology and justice intersect. CGI technology. Deepfakes. Virtual reality. Social networks. Chatbots. The more we make our lives “digital”, the easier it becomes to lie to everyone. The easier it becomes to build a “world without God”, without any consequences for sin, an imaginary world. Built by human imagination.
We all must have a smartphone – or better, wearable technology. And today we talk about “the internet of things” – connecting more and more things to the network. Adding convenience, but also making everything easier to control from – elsewhere.
If the internet can be controlled, if art and communication can be controlled, it will be so much easier to control everyone.
We saw something fascinating happen over the past few years in many countries. Governments informed us that it was really no problem to have our religious services online. No worries. It was just fine to meet with our families online. Step one.
Step two. Invest heavily in technology. Make it so that more and more people can connect to high-speed internet. (Do a little digging and see what your government did – you might be surprised!).
And then, step three. Find ways to control what’s happening online. Technology, information — communication.
I could give some examples, but I’ll let you check them out for yourselves.
Back in 2021, when I was first working on this topic, all of the news feeds were exploding with the story of Frances Haugen, a former Facebook manager. She was expressing her concerns, certainly some valid concerns, about Facebook and Instagram.
What was fascinating about this was the solutions that the headlines proposed. Here’s one from Mexico (La Jornada) (my translation): Facebook Whistleblower Calls for Regulation of the Company before the US Senate
Another one – EI Universal: Facebook Whistleblower calls on US Lawmakers to Regulate the Social Media Giant
How about the CBC? Ottawa urged to crack down on Facebook after bombshell whistleblower testimony before U.S. Senate
What’s the solution “everyone” is all of a sudden pushing for? To go to “the Lord the Government” and ask them to take control.
It’s not surprising that if people with an unbiblical worldview want to take control of creativity and communication, injustice and lies will follow. Truth will be mixed with error, and God’s truth will be ignored (suppressed). What truth? The truth about the world in general, the truth about judgement, truth about salvation, truth about Christ.
In the USA, President Biden did something in 2021 that had never been done in the history of the country. Something that you probably wouldn’t guess.
There is a commission that is in charge of the design of official buildings in the capital. Upon becoming president, Mr. Biden got rid of more than half of the people on the commission and replaced them. Unheard of! Why was this such a huge priority? Because – a revolution in the culture requires a revolution in its art. In this case, in architecture.
For example, there has been a movement in architecture to make buildings look “anti-natural” – in some cases, even intentionally ugly. And so you have a structure which essentially says, “There is no order in this world. There is no God.” And then, of course, you have engineers who must use God’s order to make sure that the building doesn’t collapse!
You see, architecture has a purpose. It has its own message. In Mexico, we have the National Palace, for example. It’s both a symbol of government and a functional place where business is conducted. It was originally built in 1711, and hasn’t changed much since the Independence. It uses European elements, showing the connection between Mexico and Spain. It’s built on land used by Moctezuma II and Hernán Cortés, showing a continuity of power.
It also uses a style known as “baroque”. This style emerged from Roman Catholicism in Italy, as a way to fight against the Protestant Reformation. It was a new and awe-inspiring style. And so even Roman Catholicism is represented in the National Palace. And we could go on and on. Art has a purpose.
But let’s not make it sound like art is like a functional machine – one of the “purposes” of art is to be simply enjoyed. We enjoy beauty, because beauty is from God, and glorifies Him. Enjoying the beauty of Creation is part of its noble purpose.
But remember this: Art, like anything else, is under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
We’ve talked a little about purpose, truth and dependence in creativity and communication. Next time we’ll talk specifically about how we can evaluate or judge art.
This week has been full of smaller frustrations, deeper sorrows, and many reasons for thanksgiving.
Ixtapaluca Sunset
“Smaller frustrations” include problems with our internet, which I’m trying to resolve today with the help the folks at our ISP. I was leading the service, and the music time, on Sunday. And because it was online, I was starting to wonder if I would even be able to lead. We had someone else “host”, if that made any difference. And God answered our prayer and we made it through. However, it was hard at times to hear what other people were saying as they shared.
The service theme was patience – something that none of us have any trouble with, so we didn’t learn much.
We also had a day without water – thankfully, that hasn’t happened for a while.
Deeper sorrows? Two people that we have known in our ministry passed away this week. One was Juan, who was in the hospital with COVID-19. Some of you have been praying – thank you! Please continue to pray for Juan’s wife, Blanca, and their two grown children. The other was Marcos, who was involved briefly in the church at Jesús MarÃa, and later attended our church in Las Palmas. He had had significant health problems for a long time. Please pray for his family as well.
Even so, we have a lot to be thankful for, as we see God work even through these sorrows.
I’ve been studying the book of Matthew over the past few months, and was so encouraged by Matthew 14. Jesus and His disciples had planned for a time of rest, but were followed by thousands. And in His compassion for them, Jesus began to teach them again.
But it was getting late, and they needed food. The disciples suggested that they send the crowds away to go find food (still thinking of that little holiday they had been planning?). Jesus answered,“They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
Oh, sure. We have thousands of loaves of bread here in our lunch-baskets. No problem.
It is a wonderful illustration for me. How do we give so many people in need the things that they need? Challenging times, death, sickness – sorrow. We don’t have the resources. But – our Lord does. So He can say, “Feed my sheep”. And we can – because the resources come from Him. And that includes His Word. We have the food. But it’s not from us.
And finally, the disciples find themselves in an even worse situation – life and death for themselves, in a storm on the sea. This is simply not the holiday they had in mind. And Jesus wasn’t even there.
But just because Jesus isn’t physically present (and He isn’t), does that mean that He is not watching? That He doesn’t care? That He doesn’t have the ability to help?
No, the disciples were still in His hands, and He still had all the resources they needed. Whether for their personal needs, or for the crowds in need. We may not have all the resources. But we know where to look. And His resources are endless and abundant.
I admit, I started it in pretty bad shape. I was feeling quite sick by Sunday evening (although I managed to make it to a neighbourhood meeting – topics ranging from security to cat poop). And I don’t think I’ve entirely recovered.
In spite of my health and the current egg shortage in Mexico (yes, really), I finally managed to find some eggs on Monday. Can’t say I didn’t do anything this week.
On Tuesday – well, for a lot of the week, actually – we were working toward getting our new visas for Mexico (the next level up – longer lasting ones). We’ve been working on this since last November (yes, really), of course. I wonder how many hours I’ve spent on it?
Anyway, it’s been back and forth with the lawyer lately.
Problems with our printer plagued me on Tuesday, and I was late to my study, with only 1/2 of the handouts (that is, half per person – only one side of the sheet!). But it was an interesting study, with a good turn-out. (Topic – What is the Church?)
On Wednesday I tried to get the printer working properly, but the internet seemed to slow almost to a halt. As you might guess, it seemed that everything I had to do involved either the printer or the internet.
But believe it or not – after about 2 months and 10-15 visits to their office – someone from the cable company showed up! They connected out internet and phone service, ending (hopefully) about 4 years of an internet connection that didn’t really work.
(Let’s put it this way – our old connection generally wasn’t good enough to watch YouTube videos (for example), and seemed to disconnect completely every time someone in the neighbourhood used their phone.)
On Thursday, Nathanael was quite sick – briefly – but enough to miss a day of school and require … well … a lot of extra cleaning … which we’re still working on. But he’s a lot better now.
However, to top the day off, the washing machine stopped working and Hannah’s pet fish (Sparky) died. That which came from the sea has returned to the sea [insert flushing sound here].
(No, no connection between the dead fish and broken washing machine.)
Today I managed to cancel our old internet/phone account (the new one is cheaper, did I mention that?) and start getting some supplies for Hannah’s science class. Ah, the school programs are a whole other story – it’s a learning curve, let me tell you (although Shari and the kids are doing a great job).
We said goodbye to our washing machine today. We’ll miss it. Hopefully it will be back next week sometime.
That’s just some of what’s been entertaining us, on top of our regular work. Tonight Hannah is going for a sleepover, and tomorrow is the kid’s club/Bible study, so I’m getting ready for that, among other up-coming events.
Soooo… still not feeling well, but we’re making progress. Sort of. Well, progress in fixing broken things, anyway. Which reminds me, Nathanael has a hole in his bike tire. Must get that fixed. Soon.
I take the key out of the ignition and grab whatever relevant papers I have. I’m wondering – what will happen today? Progress? Or the usual?
I’m sitting outside the HQ of a local cable company. I’ve been trying to get an internet contract with them.
Sure, we have internet – sort of. It’s through our phone line, and it’s an extremely slow "high speed" connection. As a matter of fact, it seems that whenever somebody uses a phone in our neighbourhood, the internet disconnects. As you can imagine, that happens a lot!
Sure, we’ve told the company. They’ve assured us someone would be around to fix it. But after several years, we’re ready to give up.
But here I am on my sixth (or is it seventh?) trip to the cable company. They have copies of my ID. They know where my house is. I’ve been told by two people that they can hook us up with internet access.
But so far I have no contract, and no one has been to my house. Although someone has promised to come at specific times more than once.
I go in and the lady I’ve been working with isn’t in today. I explain that it’s been two weeks now. Their answer is, basically, "These things take time".
They do indeed.
I want to go home to work on a health insurance claim. All I need to finish it is a couple of receipts from my doctor.
You see, when Nathanael and I went in, we paid the doctor – cash – but they didn’t have what they needed to give me a proper receipt.
No problem. I’ll swing by later.
I called on Friday, and the doctor was gone for the weekend – he’d be back Monday.
I called Monday. No answer.
No answer.
No answer.
Finally got someone – and apparently their accountant says that they can’t give me a receipt (for whatever reason) at least until the next day.
Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
So I give up and go home. I need to see if we’ve heard anything from our landlord about the water bill. We need to pay it, but he’s checking into the details. Nothing yet. So far, no one has come to shut off our water.
We’re trying to get an important document for our visas. The man in charge is away until mid-August, but no problem – his secretary can help me. I emailed her all the details last week.
Sorry, I can’t help you right now – all our internet and phone system is down, and won’t be back up until Monday…
Do tell.
(what internet/phone company are they with, I wonder?)
Well, I didn’t hear from her on Monday, but we’ll try again today.
Meanwhile, my cable rep will be back in the office… on Friday. I’ll come again, say hi to the security guard (who now knows me quite well) and get the latest estimates about when we can start thinking about whether or not they can give me internet.
It’s a typical week. Whatever it is, it will probably take time.
Back in 2005 I wrote about the strange ways people have found our website. What search words do they enter in order to get here?
There were many surprises – words like zooplay, pictures of earthships, and maroon color were on the list.
So I was curious to find out – how have things changed? I’m happy to say that, several years later, it seems that search engines have improved and people are finding us using things like our names (what a concept!) and words and phrases that actually relate.
Here are a few of the words and phrases that people have punched into search engines over the years – and have thus discovered our site:
class schedule: No, sorry – I don’t have your class schedule. Try calling the school.
amy: Seriously? We’ve come up in search engines for the word amy? I mean, we love Shari’s sister, and she is pretty important…
swine flue: I didn’t spell it like that – really I didn’t!
