What is asked of me?

Often I wonder what it is that I am suppose to do. Some days it is as simple as do the laundry or have dinner ready when Donna gets home but then there are the days when I am challenged by my faith. I usually react by turning to God for my answer but on some occasions He seems to say "handle it John". Now, how should I handle a situation where it seems that no matter what I say it will hurt someone and/or there seems to be no right answer? A matter comes to mind, how do you tell an otherwise strong Christian that their demeanor seems to repel those who they should be trying to attract. I have a friend who loves the Lord but reacts with flair. As my friend walks away from a meeting with people we have to do buisness with he might say, just loud enough to be heard, "now thats a stupid rule" or " how stupid is that". I agree, sometimes those things said or rules laid out seem to be "stupid" in our eyes, but they have rules to live by and stupid or not we as Christians should not be calling names or judging their motives. I believe that Proverbs 10:19 speaks to this "WHen words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise". Also Proverbs 21:23 "He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity", these verses tell me that wisdom is not always saying what is on your mind even if there is truth to the thought. I think that even venturing to the tought could be sinful since it is not seeking a way to win that peerson to Christ. Ok, I am not a preacher so I won't go on but do you see my stand? Do I say something to my friend or do I show wisdom and hope he sees what I do and not say? I would love to say something but then He is not me and I have enough of my own faults but am I called to make hime aware of my concern? Hummm, what is asked of me?

I am a procrastinator

My name is John and I am a procrastinator.
I meant to write this some time ago but never quite got around to it. My intentions are usually good but I seem to get distracted by other things in my life. Could it be that I try to do too much? Maybe I use that as an excuse! One reason I don't write as often as I should is my lack of writting skills (I wish I had spell check for my blog). Although I am not a skillful writter(I guess you will have to put up with my blunders), I still like to attempt to say what ever crosses this pea brain of mine.
I just finished "The Canopy" by Angela Hunt, it made me reflect on a few things: One such thing is the trust we put in others. When I was a child my neighbor ladies thought nothing of knocking on our door in the morning and just letting themselves in more morning coffee and soaps.I still think it was a little weird but then the fifties probably were just that. I knew my neighbors, two, three or four doors in any direction. If we had even a small problem, our neighbors new about it and were there for us. If any of our neighbors had a problem we knew and were there. I think that part of our problem is that as we grow closer together (more families living in closer proximity) the more we tend to put up fences. We are so afraid to share our lives with others that we hold back until we need to hire a neighbor to listen and call them our psychologist. Blog-ville is another outlet we use because most of you don't know me I feel safe letting off steam or baring my soul. I find that as in any relationship it takes an extreme effort to make things work. I have to give even when it seems everyone else is just taking. When we can give like Christ did, and not expect something in return, then we start the relationship that with time will grow.
I would love to have time to sit and write to all my friends and acquaintances. I have great plans to do just that but then I am a great procrastinator, so hold me accountable. Poke jabs at me and tell me I'm not following through. After all isn't that what good neighbors and friends do?
John

What would He do?

So, What would He do? I ask that question a lot. The only reasonable answer I get is to ask Him. The problem with asking God is that He sometimes answers in ways that confuse me. Does God want me to examine my ways or is He asking me to not look at things with the eyes of this world. Sure, I make mistakes. I sometimes get so caught up in my focus that I let otherwise important issues slide and that brings on more questions as to where is my focus. Being a task oriented person who gets sidetracked with the breeze I struggle to multitask without dropping a thing or two.
Fresh back from South America and with Mexico in the near future I hear Africa calling too. Working on a fairly large building project with our home church (I'm the building chair and free labor) and co-chair with my wife of short term missions, I find it hard to concentrate on sitting in front of a keyboard to hunt and peck my way through blogville. All this is leading up to my big question - because I don't say hi, does that mean I don't see you? If I don't write does that mean I have forgot you? If I cry and you do not hear me do I not cry? I have so much so why do I still seek? I think the answers are in what Christ did on the cross and in His return, He was still seeking to touch us. I hope in seeking I do not lose any but then He is in charge and I don't have any one to go to but Him. For all the rest I will see you at His feet.
John

I am sorry!

Today, of all days, I have to say I am sorry! Mary and Adain I let your birthdays slip by with no card or call, no excusses at all. I feel like the ground a thousand slugs have passed over. So, for all to see but especially for thee, I am sorry. Love, hugs and kisses.
John

San Luis

One of the first thoughts we had after arriving in Santiago Chile was where do we go from here? Maipú was our first direction, then to find the church in San Luis. As we looked upon our job site our first reaction was; we don't have as much work to do as we first thought. How mistaken can we be? After a thorough walk through we found more, not less work we had to do. Our work load had just about doubled! Instead of one small classroom, we now had two to do. Add on the fact that three of the old classrooms had to have complete new ceilings, wiring and paint and, well, the job was really starting to grow.
That same day we got to meet the hired crew that was working on the project also. The hired Chilean workers were not Christian and spoke no English. We spoke a little Spanish but construction terms were very limited. The hired hands, usually three or four, had some previous experiences working with "gringos" and that was not good. It took about four days before there was a trust bond between us. Some of our Chilean friends also worked along side and made for some fun times, especially for the younger folks. Some of our younger females (20-30yrs) were shown some dance steps and other such fun stuff as they were working(?).
Our vision clinic really started out with a bang. The small Highline team started training our Chilean friends and met a couple of our interpreters. Everyone caught on as we knew they would and our clinic was up and ready to go. Our estimates are around 1350 people through and a little over 1000 of those needing some sort of vision care. Hopefuly we will have pictures posted after this weekend. We are receiving request for our return and have some working on that even now.
I'm rambling so I will stop for now. Thanks for all the prayers.
Love in the Lord,
John

Santiago

The first step in starting my trip could have started at any point; mine will start at 4AM at the side of my bed. I had to be at the airport by “5ish” and poor Donna had to take me. The first leg of my trip was SEA to LAX, a short 2 plus hour flight. In that short time period my task was to finish reading “When God Weeps”. As I sat engrossed in my book, the lady seated next to me excused herself and asked what I was reading. I started to explain that it was a book about why our suffering matters to God, when she told me that was just what she needed. She was a “baby Christian” and had just gone through a bout with cervical cancer, a failed relationship with a boyfriend of a few years and the loss of her job. Wow, this lady was in the midst of real suffering and God put her seated next to me! As we were about to land and after a few tears this stranger had a new focus for her life. All those things that seemed so important didn’t measure up to what Christ had done for her. She left me with I hope a new sense of life.
On to Santiago via Lima, Peru. My companion for this part of my trip was a 70 something Chilean woman who spoke six words in English but loved to talk just the same. With my Spanish being very limited it made for a very long but interesting flight. This lady drug me around the plane introducing me to her new found friends on the plane. I saw pictures of her daughters wedding and heard of all her visits to Disneyland, the beaches and of course the movie studios. Marisa also thought I needed more food than the airlines served so she went to the flight attendants and told them they needed to give me extra food (LAN CHILE the national airlines serves more food and drink than most any other). She also insisted that I share in her snack bag. Marisa also tried to give me a little plastic dog, one of many that she had in her purse. I said no; she should keep it for herself. Wellll you don’t turn down a gift from a Chilean without insulting them. Marisa ignored me with her nose up in the air for at least a half-hour before excepting my most humble apologies. Marisa was a real jewel, she even insisted that she write me a note in my notebook (this was at three AM in the morning).
At 7AM Chilean time (2AM West Coast) I was finally on the ground in Chile. My friend Diego, a missionary there for sixteen plus years now met me as I flew through customs. We were off to his house to allow me to clean up have some coffee and something to eat (just what I needed, more food).
It was not long before we had to return to the airport to pick up the rest of my team (I flew on frequent flyer miles o had to use a different airline than them). 15 more Gringo’s and 16 bins of used glasses plus our tools did not go unnoticed by customs. The last four or five got stopped and with some delicate negotiations and some money we were allowed to pass on.
Upon our arrival at the Church/School we were greeted by hugs and kisses and guess what? More food! One of the hardest things for people from Seattle to get accustom to is drinking “Nescafé”.
Instant coffee instead of Starbucks. We also learned to eat a lot of pan (bread). Bread with every meal along with avocado, tomatoes and onion. Most of the time that was our meal, some variations but those were the basics. We were paired off and sent to individual family homes for our places of residence while in Chile. While few of use spoke no more than fragmented sentences in Spanish we all seemed to make do all right. We all came back to the church and set up for our vision clinic and work project. You can view some of our photos at “www.highlinechristian.org/ministry/chile2005/default.htm”.
I will try to write more tomorrow and tell some of the stories that I remember.
Chow!