I know I said Monday but...

Today as I sat in traffic on the way home from church (after dropping off 12 people, did you know an eight passenger van can hold 16 semi-comfortably?) listening to my teens in the back seat complaining that they were missing some program that they have started to watch, and sensing my hubby's "road rage" was building, I decided to block everything out and think about something good/better. POP into my head came HEAVEN. No I did not think I was there! In fact the first thought was "I bet there are no potholes and road construction on those streets of gold." So of course I laughed. Unforunately it was one of those badly timed laughs as my hubby had asked me a question. I tried to explain about the potholes but he did not seem to have the same sense of humor. So as he pouted out the driver side window, I went back to my thoughts. Just as I thought about walks in quiet places and lots of wide open spaces filled with the presence of my Lord, a bus nicked the side mirror on my side of the car and POP I was back in reality. Me, in a van with two grumpy teenagers, their "feeling neglected" dad and 5 lanes of traffic trying to fit into one because the contruction guys never put out any cones on Saturday when they quit work. Or maybe people stole them? I remember it being one of those big "dares" as teens. That or a stop sign! I don't think anyone would miss the stop signs here. Nobody pays attention to them anyway. Sorry for the detour (ha no pun intended!) As Antonio urged me to stick my head out and see if there was any damage, I quietly said, "I bet in heaven there are no fender benders either." The reply: " just stick your head out okay?! " So I lost it and said "Sure, stick my head out the window where a bus just clipped off the side mirror. You think I wanted to go to heaven today or what?" I won't bore you with how everyone accused me of finally loosing it and will just tell you that maybe I will try thinking about heaven later tonight. Like when everyone else is sleeping and I am alone.

Do you think much about heaven?

This morning in my devotions there was a mention of heaven. It got me thinking and I remembered something I had read by Amy Carmichael:

"What must heaven keep in store for us, if earth can offer us such unimaginable beauty? I have a tiny blue feather, so unbelievably blue that you feel as you look at it that only God could have thought of such a blue. I wonder what heaven will have for us in the way of surprises of color. Did you ever think how impossible it is to imagine a new color, and yet the Creator of color is not confined to seven and combinations of seven. What dazzling mysteries lie just beyond our view! I do not wonder that men who were given glimpses of these glories fell back on similitudes and the phrase as it were. As it were a paved work of sapphire stone; and as it were the body of heaven in all his clearness(Exodus 24:10). But it will be Love that makes heaven. Beauty alone would leave us cold. Think what it will be to look around and not see a single unloving face, and to know that in all heaven there is not one who can think an unkind thought."

So often heaven brings images of gold and jewels and singing but.....it will be infinitely more!

It's Friday. This weekend, let's try to spend a few minutes (minimum) each day thinking about heaven! On Monday let's see how our week starts different because our eyes are on eternity instead of little old today.

Great Is His Faithfulness! Lamentations 3:22-25

Today as we sang "Great Is Thy Faithfulness", I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time! "We" were 40 people from the Iglesia Bautista de las Trojes and I'm not sure how many from the Missionary Baptist Church of Valle Dorado. As I mentioned in the last entry, they celebrated their anniversary today.

Those of us from the Las Trojes church piled into a bus and went over to share the day with them. I to be honest thought "Ugh a bus ride in traffic!" But God put me next to Abigail on the bus. Abigail is 6 years old. She thought that the bus ride was truly awesome and her excitement was contagious! I was suppressing the desire to sing camp songs and wave at every car that passed us even before we left the neighborhood around the church. I was simply content watching and listening to Abigail go on and on about the sights outside her window.

Her amazement grew even more when she saw the church building and all the brothers and sisters in Christ who were waiting to greet her as she descended from her chariot! Her face was priceless as she later whispered "Wow they know all of the songs we sing at our church!" Her little voice belting out Great is thy Faithfulness was all I needed to bawl through the last two verses.

I have know the Faithfulness of God for alot of years but today I got a refresher course as I watched a mother church of 16 years sing alongside its 2 year old daughter church. Most of the faces showed they weren't just singing but they were truly praising God for his sovereignty and grace and love in their lives.

Abigail's recap on the bus home was "Can I sleep on your lap cuz I am tired? I've been singing and praying all day!"

Welcome to a day in the life.

I am enough of a dreamer or romantic to think that the first real entry on this blog should be about something profound.......Unfortunately this week has been pretty "normal" with no great events to wax poetic about. SO.....that means that your prayers for me have been working! Life is tranquil and without crisis! Yeah we found something truly profound to write about. Prayer! My great words about it? Thank you dear Lord for allowing us into the throne room! And thank you for friends and family who enter there on my behalf! I recently asked you to pray for the first annual ladies retreat at Iglesia Bautista de las Trojes on August 4. It went very well. All of the ladies have shared how wonderful it was to come away for a day and share and hear and eat and laugh and cry and just get to know each other better. Our theme was Shine Right Where You Are. We talked about Matthew 5:14-16. Everyone is already putting pesos in their piggy banks for a two day retreat next August!
Tommorrow, the whole church will be travelling to Valle Dorado to help Missionary Baptist Church of Valle Dorado(church we ministered in our first term) celebrate their 16th anniversary! On Mother's Day of this year we took the ladies of our church there for a celebration. One of their comments was "Wow, now we really know why God sent you to Las Trojes. So we could have a building like this and imagine all the things God could do if we just had more room and this many brothers and sisters in Christ in our church!" We talked about a church not being a building but rather Christians willing to go out into the world around them and share what Christ has done for them and the world. I was not sure if they understood until at the ladies retreat, someone said "So if we shine for Jesus no one will see us or how poor we are or where we come from, they will just see Jesus!" And someone else said "Of course remember what she said in Valle Dorado. We don't want people to see a building. We want them to see Christ in us. We want our lives to make them thirst and hunger for what we have in our hearts." Inside my heart I did a happy dance and just smiled cuz my girls are getting the idea, and God is gonna do great things in Las Trojes through them.