Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Ashes and Indians: a Final Journey, Part 1

Not so much for them.  For us. 

This is how we used to travel out to Cóngoma,  the area in the coastal jungle of Ecuador where we lived long ago.  In this picture, Dad holds my younger brother Paul, Mom holds me, and Steve gets the pack-horse.  (Carol didn't exist yet.)

The closest town was Santo Domingo, then a small, end-of-the-line town about a seven-hour drive from the capital.  No major roads led on from there to other parts of the coast.  At first, it would take us two days on horseback from Santo Domingo to our house.  Later we could go by bus for 45 minutes, and then walk in a couple of hours.  Now, it takes less than 45 minutes by car.  (And Santo Domingo is a city, a vital hub, with highways to just about everywhere!)

My parents gave several decades of their lives to the Tsáchila, the indigenous group still sometimes called "Colorado" Indians in Spanish.  After learning their language, Dad worked on translating the New Testament into it, and Mom worked with literacy.  They grew to love the people, and their affection was returned.  We eventually moved out to Santo Domingo, where they would have better access to other groups of Tsáchila.  By the time they left the area many years later, Dad had trained several of them in some translation basics, and helped them translate parts of the Old Testament.  With that training, they could go on to translate other literature into their own language.
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Two years ago, my father passed away at the age of 84, and I'm sure he had a joyful reunion with some of the Tsáchila  who had learned of Jesus through his ministry, and followed Him.  A year ago, my mother went to join him in Heaven, at almost 84 For both of them, their specific request had been for their bodies to be cremated.  And their ashes? Take them back out to Cóngoma, back to the place where they began their journey of service so many, many years ago, and scatter them over the place where they had lived and loved, wept and laughed...with their children and with the Indians.

In a few days, my siblings (and spouses) will be arriving here in Quito from the U.S.  The following day we will all leave for Santo Domingo (on a paved road that takes about three hours, rather than seven), and the day after that, drive out to Cóngoma, where the Tsachi believers will join us in a simple ceremony honoring Mom and Dad.  This will give them the opportunity to "say goodbye", and us to have a final journey home with them (well, with their ashes!), a final tribute to these two incredible people and the legacy they left...a closing of the circle.


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I will be writing about this event, and hopefully have pictures to show you in the next posts.  
                       

We have the comfort of God's words when He said, " I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and my daughters, says the Lord Almighty."  (II Corinthians 6:18)

If we honor our earthly parents, how much more our heavenly Father"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.  Amen."  (I Timothy 1:17)  
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P.S.  If you want to see the Tsáchila's native dress, go to our Facebook page and see our cover photo.




Wednesday, May 20, 2015

You feel you can't keep holding on? Then HE'll do it for you.



 Sometimes this is the only way we can keep holding on...and it's a request that God will never fail to answer.                              



              Hold Them, Please
                                      

        Lord, here are some things
        I would have You to keep,
        for in my own hands
        they're more likely to seep
        out slowly through fingers
        that aren't always strong,
        and make it much harder
        to keep holding on.  

                                          Lord, let not my JOY
                                          flow out wide but not deep;
                                          and let not my LOVE for You
                                          die in its sleep.
                                          My PEACE hold in place
                                          when my pain makes me weep,
                                          then bind up the harvest
                                          my HOPE fights to reap.
                                          My FAITH  hold together
                                          when facing a "leap",
                                          when what I must do is
                                          neither easy nor cheap.

                                          Please...gather me up;
                                          Lord, your Hands are so strong!
                                          If You have me,
                                          I know I can keep holding on.

            *********************************************-Becky Rhon*********

"The good hand of God is on everyone who looks to Him."  (Ezra 8:22)

"Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, Oh Lord, the God of truth."  (Psalm 31:5)

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Why struggle through on our own?  He's ready...longing...to hold us...and be our Help!



                             

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Hand-in-hand...a sweet and timeless analogy

                                                                                                                                               Noe stood quietly beside her Abuelito,  her small hand trustingly holding his big hand...his big grandfather-hand lovingly engulfing her small hand.
.  She was about 16 months old then, and this is one of our favorite pictures.  They are on the top of a mountain from where one can look down and see the city of Quito spread out far below.  Beautiful scenery.  And for me, this photo gleams with a beautiful analogy.

How often do we stand quietly beside our Father...our small hands trustingly in His, His large hand lovingly engulfing ours?

What better place to put ourselves?  I Chronicles 29:12 says, "In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all."  Noe sensed that she was safe with Abuelito, so she went with him willingly.

Germán and Noe were on a mountain, but the psalmist wrote that wherever we might be, even in the very depths of the sea (even the sea of despair), "Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." (Psalm 139:10)

And the awesome promise in John 10:28 assures us that we will always be able to find strength, power, refuge, love, trust, safety...in His hand! Jesus Himself said, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, so no one can snatch them out of my hand."
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If you are His child, then when you see His hand reaching out to you, just before it closes warmly over your hand, look at His palm...and remember that you're engraved there.  (Isaiah 49:16)

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Wednesday, May 6, 2015

"If you're not allowed to laugh in Heaven, I don't want to go there."

Martin Luther said that, and he had a point.  Believers should let their joy express itself in smiles, in laughter, in cheerfulness.  I bet Jesus had some real belly-laughs when He was here!  I bet He told jokes and laughed at others' jokes (clean ones, of course).  God has a sense of humor, and He's the One who invented laughter!

St. Teresa of Avila prayed, "From somber, serious, sullen saints, save us, oh Lord."  And I've read that in some part of Nigeria, God's name is "Father of Laughter".  Augustine said, "The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot."

Joy and laughter are mentioned numerous times in the Bible.  Like it says in Proverbs, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine...", and Jesus promised us "that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be full".  (John 15:11)  (And He said this when He was about to be tortured and crucified!) It's true that there are times of tears and pain, but they are things that come and go.  True joy stays and adds a special dimension to Life. True joy doesn't allow things (trivial or serious) to paralyze it.   

I just read this amusing hypothetical conversation of Jesus and His disciples. It's light-hearted, yet holds up a mirror in which we might see ourselves.**

             Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain...he taught them, saying:
                  "Blessed are the poor.
                  "Blessed are the hungry.
                  "Blessed are those who mourn.
                  "Blessed are the oppressed..."
           Then Simon Peter said, "Do we have to write this down?"
           And Andrew said, "Are we supposed to know this?"
           And James said, "I don't have papyrus with me."
           And Philip said, "Will we have a test on this?"
           And Bartholomew said, "Do we have to turn this in?"
           And John said, "The other disciples didn't have to learn this."
           And Matthew said, "Can I be excused?"
           And Judas said, "What does this have to do with the real world?"
      Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus' lesson plan and inquired, "Where is your anticipatory set?  Where are your objectives in the cognitive domain?"
                             And Jesus wept.
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Sometimes we get distracted by little details that seem so important, and we miss the point Jesus wants to get across to us.  In some versions, He says, "Happy are the poor...happy are the hungry...happy are those who mourn..."  And the disciples in this story seemed to be anything but happy!  Too worried about things that, in the long run, weren't that important. Too preoccupied to hear the beauty and joy in what He was saying.

We tend to explain (or justify) ourselves by saying, "Well, under the circumstances..." But true joy doesn't depend on the state of our circumstances.  One of my favorite sayings is:  "You don't have to live 'under the circumstances'. They may never change...but you can  'live above the circumstances.'"  And that's what true joy and faith should help us do. One of their fruits is healthy laughter, a gift from God, which should never be absent from our lives.

I like what St. Francis of Assisi said, "The devil is most happy when he can snatch from a servant of God true joy of the spirit...But if the joy of the spirit fills the heart, the serpent shoots his deadly venom in vain."

Thomas More, in the 1400's, wrote: "Give me, Lord, a soul that knows nothing of boredom, groans and sighs...Lord, give me a sense of humor so that I may take some happiness from this life and share it with others."
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Let's trust Him and know that...

"He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy." (Job 8:21)

            ...so we don't end up being "somber, serious, sullen saints"...
           too preoccupied to hear the beauty and joy in what He says to us!
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**Taken from Holy Humor , edited by Cal and Rose Samra.