It’s saying a lot – but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a worse time for volcanic ash.
Volcanic ash on the windshield
Living near an active volcano as we do, we’re not strangers to having volcanic ash around (in fact, you may remember that I mentioned it here). But over the last couple of days it’s been quite the topic of conversation.
The news this week was that the spewing of the volcano was interrupting flights from central Mexico. I checked a couple of news reports that explained that the volcano had had “13 exhalations” (which is pretty much what it sounds like – spews of gas or ash) in one day. Well, today it’s 148 exhalations so far. Quite high – though it’s certainly been higher other days this month.
Anyway, whatever the reason may be, I’m feeling ash as I type on my keyboard here. You can wipe a surface in the house and come back a little later to wipe it again. It gets into everything – very fine, it hangs in the air like a mist. People are out sweeping the street in front of their houses – Shari included. Our neighbour was cleaning out the nooks and crannies in his car – even in the engine. And sweeping it up does help to keep sewers from getting clogged.
But you must admit, it does feel a little useless when you can come out and see the grey-black dust everywhere that you just swept!
The good news is that the wind seems to be blowing the plume in the opposite direction for the moment (apologies to our friends in Puebla!), and it doesn’t seem to be smoking too much at the moment. But you can check it for yourself right here (webcam). And in case you’re interested, a few years ago I posted the local recommendations of what to do in case of ash.
So a storm passed through on Saturday. It was one of those times when the weather prediction a week and a half earlier had been right on! The temperature dropped and the rain started.
(click on the image for a larger version)
It’s still dry season, so we’re not used to rain. And while it didn’t look like much, and walked out into it and quickly got soaked.
Anyway, it was one of the mornings of our hospital evangelism, and we’re normally outside under the sky (and a few sparse trees) serving tortas and sweet bread. That wasn’t going to happen.
There is an indoor courtyard, with a porch all around with a roof. This is essentially the “waiting room”. So this time we were allowed to go right inside there where everyone was waiting, serve hot coffee, tea, and the above-mentioned snacks, and share the gospel.
Above you can see some of the people who braved the weather on Saturday. I’m especially impressed at those who could carry a box with both hands and still hold an umbrella!
I have been reminded again what a variety of people you are apt to meet. You would think there would be a certain demographic at the hospital, and Mexico is indeed more homogenous a culture than we’re used to in Canada (though there is a lot of variety here too – dozens of major languages and cultures that are indigenous – up to hundreds!). But everywhere you go, the world is full of individuals!
And, of course, we’re not only talking with patients, but also with their caregivers, family members, even neighbours.
One neighbour of a patient had serious spiritual trouble of his own – possibly some demonic activity in his life. Another was buying into myths about the origins of the Bible. Yet another brought his own anointing oil on a keychain! There are people with all sorts of beliefs and ideas. Some suffer a lot of physical pain. So we share the gospel, pray with them, and share their prayer requests with the church so others can pray too.
We’re thankful for this opportunity to serve others in a place with so much need.
Ten years ago today, Nathanael was at a weekly soccer practice that was put on by the community centre in the community of Jesús María, and taught by our friend Jonathan. Apparently I was playing with video filters that day, but the noises are authentic Mexican sounds – including a nearby school band practising!
One of the ministries that Shari led when we were in Canada last year was having women pray for specific women in Mexico. She asked women from our church to share their requests for that purpose, and she had pictures of the women themselves. It was really neat for people to learn more about the personal challenges and struggles in another culture – in most ways, not all that different from the challenges that Christians have in Canadian culture.
Mexicans praying for Candians
Last Saturday was the other half of the story, as women from our church prayed for the women in Canada. 20 women including Shari gathered in our home. Shari shared the prayer requests from our Canadian friends, pictures included, and they were prayed for!
Some baking for the occassion!
Being close to Valentine’s Day, it was a good chance to bake up some special snacks and spend time together as well – chatting and praying for some requests here in Mexico as well.
Just a chat…
Our friend Amanda, who is here from the United States for a few months as an intern, also came and led a craft time at the very end. Card making!
Amanda at craft time
It was an encouragement all around to have time to fellowship and pray together! And what an encouragement to see both sides – women praying for women across borders and cultures. And the Lord heard the prayer of hearts in both languages!
You can join in, and pray for these women too! They’re looking forward to a women’s Bible study which will start up in March. Pray that many will be able to attend regularly, to learn from God’s Word together.
I was blessed over the Christmas holiday. Not only did I enjoy time with the family, but also time with the Lord. We enjoyed Christmas music, some Christmas movies, and Shari and I shared some advent devotionals. This post isn’t about Christmas, though. It’s about filters.
We are so inundated with garbage in this world. It’s nothing new, but technology has cranked up the volume. Every once in a while, over Christmas, I check out the “common” Christmas songs, streaming Christmas movies, and so on – and they are simply every year more Christ-less and immoral. Actually, I’ve been amazed to see more than one Christmas movie carefully rewriting the story even of Santa Claus, to make sure there’s no connection at all with the historic Christian! Like seriously, we have to get all remnants of anything holy out of our holidays!
But this post isn’t about Christmas.
I realize that we can’t be completely separate from the world while we live in it. And I recognize the value of being aware of what’s going on in the culture around us. But that doesn’t mean you have to only watch the movies on Netflix, only listen to the music on the radio, and only read books on the best seller list. You don’t have to get all your news from news sources that have proven themselves to be untrustworthy. Life is short!
I make lots of bad choices, but I like to choose what I listen to. I like to choose where I get my news from. And by the way, I intentionally do listen to / read some news that comes from anti-Christian sources. I like to play a game called, “Find the spin”. “Spin” is, of course, sharing a news story in a biased way to make it fit a certain narrative. Sometimes it’s a matter of lies, sometimes a matter of emphasis, sometimes a matter of leaving something out. It’s a fun game to play when you watch the news. Try it with your family. But that doesn’t have to be my whole news diet.
So here are some ways you might want to filter out some of the bad, and bring in some of the good:
Use an ad-blocker for the internet.
Consider a content filter. These are often used by parents to filter their children’s internet, but parents could certainly use one too!
Why are you using that app? Where does it come from? How secure is it?
Use an rss reader. This is slightly technical, but it’s one of the best things I’ve done regarding news. You can quickly check news from sources you trust. (This article reminded me of this. They recommend some readers – I use Inoreader.)
There are many music streaming services that allow you to at leastblock certain songs and certain artists (and yes, there are “Christian” artists I block).
Make collections! Playlists are great. Get some movies that you’ll watch more than once – movies that are wholesome and do not have an anti-Christian worldview. Collect books.
Consider getting away from all-digital and streaming, and purchase quality. Yes, ebooks can be recalled or even changed. That physical book is yours (at least until they break the door down and confiscate it).
For things to listen to, consider a podcast app. It will only download what you tell it to. Start collecting quality podcasts to listen to while you’re in line, brushing your teeth or doing physical work. (Sermons, audio books, and audio Bibles are also great.)
Scroll less. And when you do, think about who/what you’re following. There are ways to filter social media, and you can also change settings so you see certain things more often. If it’s not edifying, why are you spending an hour on there? Wait, two hours a day? Three? Is that time building you up in the Lord?
Do you have other ideas?
I bet you use a search engine, don’t you? Maybe sometimes you watch something that just “pops up” on YouTube? Guess what. In most cases, it was not a Christian who designed those algorithms in order to help you grow in the Lord. Surprise! And that AI was programmed by someone to respond in a certain way. Be aware! There are other search engines that may be better. There are other social media apps. And there are some ways in which you can control what you see.
These are not things that you can do in an hour on a Saturday. They are things that you can gradually implement. No one can (or even should?) avoid everything that is slightly objectionable. But you don’t have to be a slave to the latest music, the latest app, the popular movies. Life is short – maybe we should be less concerned about those friends that are shocked that we haven’t yet seen that movie, or that we don’t know that song. How many hours do we spend simply so that we can say we did? What would happen if we spent those hours differently?
No, don’t hide yourself in a cave like a hermit. Don’t ignore everyone and everything that offends you. You don’t want to be sheltered from every other point of view!
But don’t just open yourself to everything everywhere. You don’t put everything you see in your mouth, like an infant. You filter! You don’t try to spend time with everyone in your community. You filter! Why not put that skill to use in your media consumption?
Those are just a few things to think about. Collect, filter, and limit mindless scrolling. Just something to think about.
Holy Week is coming up – what will your focus be? I can just imagine what the world will be thinking about…
We’re diving into some new teaching adventures – well, sort of new.
The Gospel according to the Apostle John
The institute classes are continuing, although I haven’t been involved as much as I had hoped. However, I’ve been able to attend a couple of classes since being back, and they’ve been good. We’re learning about preaching and pastoral ministry – mostly the second one right now.
We’re nearing the end of our study of the Gospel of John, which has been amazing. We’re hoping to be done by Resurrection Sunday. So we’ll have a whole month to especially focus on the resurrection, which is pretty cool.
We’ve also decided to go through our doctrinal series again on Sundays, because there are so many new people at the church. There are 26 lessons, covering our doctrinal statement, our doctrinal distinctives and our values.
So I’m looking forward to kicking that off on the 11th!
One thing that is always a challenge to explain is this. Everyone wants to know what the “key” doctrines are, or what you need to “believe” in order to be “saved”. I’m not putting quotes in because I don’t believe in those words, but because these are things which themselves require explaination and definition.
Everybody likes a list, right? We talked about this in our last institute class – a “list” of priorities for the pastor. Except, the Bible doesn’t give us a list, and it’s not always that simple. Yes, we’ve all seen abuses – a pastor who ignores his family and spends all his time at church events – that can’t be right. But does that mean that the family comes “before” church events in every sense? In other words, you never sacrifice family for ministry – the family must always have the “best”?
Ministry simply isn’t that simple.
And neither is doctrine. Obviously churches list “priorities” in doctrinal statements. But does that mean you don’t need to believe the rest of God’s Word? Are parts of it not authoritative in our lives? Surely every word from God’s mouth should be believed. And of course, any church summary can never replace the Bible, which is the ultimate authority. What then is “more important”, and why? Some things are more important because they allow our church to function smoothly. Even some “opinions” or “traditions”. Other times, beliefs are virtually unseen, but they can rot your soul away little by little if they stray from God’s Word.
So we need to be careful with lists.
Another new adventure is coming after the book of John – we’re going to go through Zechariah next. Visions of people flying around in baskets and people in stinky clothes, and all that apocaliptic stuff. A different culture, a different language, a different time in history. I’ve been enjoying studying it already – but it will be a new challenge for us all!
God really does use all these teaching times and more to change our lives and give us direction and encouragement. His Word is power!
