Thanks so much for visiting Finding direction! Here are the most popular posts from the past 90 days, in case you want to catch up. I always post these at 8:20pm on the last day of the month. Yes, 20:20. Get it?
Anyway, these are in chronological order, with the most popular post in bold.
Random Thoughts on Church Closures… – It’s funny to think about just how much I’ve thought about this since this post! But, for what it’s worth…
Mexico City and COVID-19 in late December – I just checked this again today. From the official numbers, Mexico continues to follow a similar trajectory as Canada and the USA in per capita deaths – not as bad as the USA, but worse than Canada.
We appreciate all you people out there who are praying for the ministry here in Mexico! I probably don’t give updates as much as I should, but here are a few things that are going on.
“Discovering Life” – Current Bible Study Series
We had a fun youth event the other day, sacrificing two frisbees and two pizzas to the cause. We had a devotional and talked about the concept of “seeking the Lord” from the story of Asa in 2 Chronicles 14-16 (a fascinating story, by the way).
Bible studies have started up again for the new year, with “Discovering Life 2”, a 15 week study (although we’re not meeting every week). Tomorrow night we continue, studying about how God works in our lives.
Shari is working on a women’s event, which will take place in February. Please pray that this will be a good time of fellowship and encouragement for the women of the church!
The Institute classes continue. We’re doing a survey of the New Testament. Numbers have gone down somewhat, but there are still two churches heavily involved. We should be finishing this course in the spring.
I’ve started doing classes for musicians who want to be involved in worship music, and I’m doing some training for those interested in helping with the sound system. Nathanael has been helping with the sound, and also played his ukulele last Sunday.
There are three men preaching on Sunday mornings right now – well, not at the same time. We’re taking turns, like we learned to do in kindergarten. Anyway, that’s two men plus me. We’re pushing through Romans 9-11, and so we’ve been spending a little extra time discussing the text together, which has been a help to me, anyway!
It looks like we’ll be starting an “anthropology” study as well, one Sunday a month this year. This will be a look at the biblical teaching about men and women, probably covering topics such as artificial intelligence, transhumanism, race, reproductive technology, art, justice, sexuality – you know, some of the topics which occasionally come up these days! I’m working on the first part of the series now, which will start, Lord willing, in February.
A couple other things you could pray about. Please pray for the family of a woman who passed away recently. This woman was highly involved at the church in Jesús María. She was in her 40s. Please pray that the family and her friends would be drawn to the Lord – especially pray for those who are not saved.
Also, a much lesser situation in comparison, but we’re struggling through some small issues with our van insurance. Please pray that these issues would be resolved completely soon. And then we have some maintenance and repairs to take care of. It’s all taking too long (in our impatient opinion)! 🙂
There, now you know some of the things that are happening here! Thanks again to all those who are praying!
It’s been a while – yikes! A year! – since I posted about some of the books I’ve been reading. So here are a few that you might want to check out:
The Hidden Hand by J. Sidlow Baxter – One of my favourites, and a book I’ve read many times. I enjoyed it once again. It’s a mystery/romance written by a Christian preacher, so if that doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what will. A little preachy at times, but overall a great novel by someone who knows his material (see below). I’m always sorry to get to the last page. More about The Hidden Hand here.
J. Sidlow Baxter: A Heart Awake by E. A. Johnston – So here’s the mystery. The Hidden Hand is supposedly loosely based on a true story. So – what is the true story? Well, after quite a bit of research I suspected that it was the story of the author himself. So I finally got my hands on his biography, thanks to some birthday money, and confirmed my suspicions. And also whet my appetite to read more biographies.
For the Glory: The Untold and Inspiring Story of Eric Liddell, Hero of Chariots of Fire by Duncan Hamilton – Of the books on today’s list, I give this one 5 stars along with The Hidden Hand. I don’t think the author is a believer, but he writes with great respect about the life of Eric Liddell, with a special focus on his life as a missionary in China, and the end of his life in a Japanese prison camp. Highly recommended.
The Bible among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature? by John N. Oswalt – Quite a variety of books here, I see! This one is a discussion of the Old Testament in the light of what we know of ancient Middle Eastern religion. That might sound rather academic, and in a way it is. But the author presents a compelling case that, despite superficial similarities, the worship of Yahweh in Israel was so drastically different from the religions around it that it’s hard to imagine how it could have (humanly speaking) come into existence. If you’ve read books like The Other Worldview his observations will make even more sense. Although I would have some theological differences with the author, his observations from history and interactions with other scholars are fascinating and insightful.
For his physical education class, Nathanael had to put together an activity using “SMART goals” (goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound). So he decided to do an Ixtapaluca hike.
So, yesterday after our main meal of the day we set out to fulfill the goals. He had mapped out a route (which we ended up adjusting somewhat en route), which included climbing up to two archaeological sites on two sides of town.
I took some pictures as we went, so I thought you might enjoy this mini-tour. I’ve linked to each picture in our Photo Gallery so that you can see the full-resolution version (you will want to actually download the photo from the gallery if you want the full-res version).
Typical Street
Street market – socks on the right, makeup on the left, and vegetables ahead.
The “Stairway of Doom” (yeah, we just made that up). And when we got to the top, there was another one.
A path in the hills of Ixtapaluca
A view of Ixtapaluca from the first hill we climbed.
On top of an unexcavated pyramid in Ixtapaluca, looking down over the city.
Dumped garbage
Cacti along the road
Street and sewer, with little bridges over the canal.
Tlapacoya Archaeological Site, from a culture that flourished hundreds of years before Christ.
10 years ago today, a ministry called Uncharted Waters was back in Ixtapaluca to help us train local churches to share the gospel through sports camps.
Several churches were involved, and a lot of continuing ministry grew out of the skills that we learned during that time. Both Hannah and Nathanael attended the sports camp (which was in the community of Jesús María), playing basketball and soccer.
One of the leaders asked me to take photos that they could use in future promotion, so I took a lot of pictures! Here’s just one, during a game of – what do you call it? It’s that one where you steal the bandana or flag from the other person. In this case, you have to keep dribbling the whole time…
