10 years ago this month – was a busy month, seeing a lot of family and friends in Canada! So it was hard to choose just one picture. 🙂
But I finally decided on this one. We were having a birthday party for Hannah and Nathanael, a little late, in Lashburn Saskatchewan with my parents. The kids had decorated their own cakes. Just click the picture for a little larger version (and stay tuned below for a video):
And since we’re here, I had fun making the video below, which includes June 2014. When we were driving to Canada and then back to Mexico, most days I tried to take a picture on the road. So here is the video of all the pictures, with the 13th of May being my favourite. And the 7th of July my least favourite.
There’s a lot of information online about biblical archaeology. Some good. Some – well, not so biblical!
But I would like to recommend a book which delves into history – specifically, moments when “God came down” – that is, when He appeared to and communicated with people in history. The book is called, appropriately, Where God Came Down: The Archaeological Evidence.
It’s a rare thing when a book is both a fairly easy read – with lots of pictures! – and yet still detailed enough to be useful. This book looks at 10 places “where God came down”, along with pictures and diagrams to help you picture what archaeologists have found. You’ll not only learn something about the Bible, but something about archaeology along the way.
The first chapter is arguably the most amazing. That we have so much evidence for something so ancient is mind-blowing. I mean, it looks like the famous trees were right there! But I’ll let you discover all that for yourself.
Another rare thing about this book is that the author actually seems to believe what the Bible says. Imagine! Sadly, that’s less common than you may think.
Part of the value of this book is that it’s new – it incorporates the latest research – but it also talks about older discoveries. Speaking personally, I often hear about some newly discovered item with a biblical connection. But it’s easy to miss the incredible modern discoveries that have rocked the world in the past 100-150 years. Putting it all together gives an amazing picture of these places that God blessed, and how that affected those places right up to today.
So whether you’re just curious, or looking to enrich your study of Scripture, or in a position where you can teach others, I recommend you go right now and grab yourself a copy of Where God Came Down!
Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have arrived.
This past Sunday, our friends Viri and Oscar renewed their marriage vows during the service.
It’s been 5 years since their wedding! And there is now a third person in the family – their son Josué. 🙂
Shari and I had the priviledge to lead a time of worship (along with the rest of the music team), and we had the same songs that we led five years ago. As I shared on Sunday – this was our normal Sunday service, but not so normal! Normal because even at their wedding, Oscar and Viri wanted to sing worship songs, and hear God’s Word preached, and so as they renewed their vows we did it again at our normal worship service.
They exchanged rings – again – a ring or two may possibly have gone missing over those five years, so this was important. Some of the same symbols were presented, typical of a Mexican wedding. The Gospel was preached. And Oscar and Viri threw a party for everyone afterwards!
But essentially it was a time to celebrate God’s faithfulness in their lives, and to talk again about the importance of the covenant of marriage.
And a good time was had by all!
Please continue to pray for these and so many other families in our church. The days are evil, but God is great.
So last month a relative (we’re still not sure which one, but that’s another story!) asked us a question for a school assignment:
How are you following God’s will in Mexico?
That’s a good question. Of course, we still have a long way to go – we often fail. But what exactly are we aiming for?
So this is how I answered:
The Lord Jesus left us with these instructions:
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
The Lord asks His Church to reach out to other nations, sharing the good news of “repentance and forgiveness of sins . . . in His name” (Luke 24:47) from the Bible (Luke 24:44-48). So we invite everyone to come to Jesus for forgiveness, baptizing those who put their trust in Him (Acts 2:41) (we just saw nine people baptized earlier this month!) and going on to teach them Jesus’ commands – that is, helping them learn to be His disciples/followers/imitators.
We do this in many different ways, but that’s basically how we’re following God’s will in Mexico.
How would you answer? How are you following God’s will in _________________?
I’m departing from my usual “10 years ago” posts to bring you this special presentation from 18 years ago today.
But first, a little background on this video. Nathanael was one week short of his second birthday. We were still living in Calgary (we would move to Mexico in 6 months). We had put elastics on the kitchen cupboards to keep little hands from getting into things (not that any of our angelic children would ever get into trouble!), and Nathanael discovered that these made excellent string instruments.
So, in a nod to his future ukulele career, he began to play this new kitchen string instrument and sing the song that was on his mind – Cristo Me Ama (Jesus Loves Me). I joined in, but I think he had chosen a key that was a little high for both of us. This amusement kept his attention for an unusual amount of time, until he finally realized that there was some delicious pasta cooking on the stove.
