Día de acción de gracias

Hoy en los Estados Unidos mi familia se va a reunir para comer y dar gracias a Dios. Hoy es el Día de acción de gracias en mi país natal. Es un día para celebrar en familia las bendiciones de Dios y darle gracias. Para muchos, este día es quizás más importante para la familia que el 31 de diciembre.

Este año no me puedo reunir con mi familia en Estados Unidos. De hecho, hace cuatro años que no he tenido la bendición de dar gracias a Dios desde la misma mesa con mi familia. Sin embargo, quería aprovechar este momento de reflexión para darles gracias a ustedes, mi familia en Sudamérica.

No es un secreto para nadie que no puedo visitar a mi familia con frecuencia. A pesar del saudade que me viene de vez en cuando, Dios es fiel en su promesa y me ha dado una nueva familia (Marcos 10:28-30). Quiero aprovechar este día de acción de gracias para agradecerle a Dios por su bondad y su fidelidad, por nunca dejarme solo y por siempre proveer por mis necesidades.

También quiero darles gracias a ustedes, mi nueva familia en Cristo Jesús. Aunque esté lejos de mi familia de sangre, yo sé que puedo contar con ustedes. No sólo eso, he aprendido mucho de ustedes, de su cultura y más importante de su amor para con Dios.

Que Dios los bendiga ricamente. ¡Los quiero mucho! Los dejo con uno de mis salmos favoritos.

Salmo de acción de gracias.

Aclamen alegres al Señor, habitantes de toda la tierra;
Adoren al Señor con regocijo.
Preséntense ante Él con cánticos de júbilo.
Reconozcan que el Señor es Dios;
Él nos hizo, y somos suyos.
Somos su pueblo, ovejas de su prado.
Entren por sus puertas con acción de gracias;
Vengan a sus atrios con himnos de alabanza;
Denle gracias, alaben su nombre.
Porque el Señor es bueno y su gran amor es eterno;
Su fidelidad permanece para siempre.

Salmo 100 (NVI)

Homesick Missionary

Ten Ways You Know You Are a “Homesick” Missionary

Homesick is in quotes because right now I’m homesick for Denver. Once I’m “home” in Denver, then I will miss my “home” in Caracas and I’ll become “homesick” for my other “home.” Either way, I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger homesick for my heavenly home. I hope my list makes you laugh and realize that “home” is really where God calls you to be, whether it’s here, there or in Timbuktu. Enjoy!

You know you’re a “homesick” missionary when . . .

1. You look up the house where you grew up more than once a month on Google Earth.

2. You’ll pay just about anything for an obtusely small jar of peanut butter.

3. You start pulling out your sweaters even though it’s 95 degrees outside.

4. You make a special effort to brush up on your English for the trip “home.”

5. You pull out those American flags you stored away in the closet to put them on display.

6. You start dreaming about Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club conveniences.

7. You smell imaginary doughnuts when you wake up on Saturday morning.

8. You get nostalgic every time you go to the mall and hear cheesy 80’s music.

9. You start reading CNN and the New York Times to catch up on what’s go on since you left.

10. You realize that life at “home” has gone on without you, but you’re thankful for where you live and what you are doing.

Value of true humility

It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is the beginning of blessedness and the consummation of humility is the perfection of all joy. Humility contains in itself the answer to all the great problems of the life of the soul. It is the only key to faith, with which the spiritual life begins: for faith and humility are inseparable. In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself or in itself for God: and it is lost and submerged in Him and transformed into Him.

Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

No somos islas

Comenzamos a comprender la importancia positiva, tanto de los éxitos como de los fracasos y los accidentes de nuestra vida, únicamente cuando nos vemos en nuestro verdadero contenido humano, como miembros de una raza que está proyectada para ser un organismo y un “cuerpo.” Mis logros no son míos: el camino para llegar a ellos fue preparado por otros.

El fruto de mis trabajos no es mío, pues yo estoy preparando el camino para las realizaciones de otros. Tampoco mis fracasos son míos, sino que pueden derivar del fracaso de otros, aunque también están compensados por las realizaciones de esos otros. Por tanto, el significado de mi vida no debe buscarse únicamente en la suma total de mis realizaciones. Sólo puede verse en la integración total de mis logros y fracasos, junto con los éxitos y fracasos de mi generación, mi sociedad, y mi época. Pueden verse, sobre todo, en mi integración dentro del misterio de Cristo. . . .

Todo hombre es un pedazo de mí mismo, porque yo soy parte y miembro de la humanidad. Todo cristiano es parte de mi cuerpo, porque somos miembros de Cristo. Lo que hago también para ellos, con ellos y para ellos. Lo que hacen, lo hacen en mí, por mí y para mí. Con todo, cada uno de nosotros es responsable de su participación en la vida de todo el cuerpo. La caridad no puede ser lo que se pretende que sea si yo no comprendo que mi vida representa mi participación en la vida de un organismo totalmente sobrenatural al que pertenezco. Únicamente cuando esta verdad ocupa el primer lugar, encajan las otras doctrinas en su contexto adecuado. La soledad, la humildad, la negación de uno mismo, la acción y la contemplación, . . . la familia, la guerra y la paz: nada de esto tiene sentido si no está en relación con la realidad central, que es el amor de Dios que vive y actúa en aquellos a quienes él ha incorporado en Cristo. Nada, absolutamente nada tiene sentido si no admitimos, como John Donne, que “los hombres no son islas, independientes entre sí; todo hombre es un pedazo del continente, una parte del Todo.”

 

Los hombres no son islas

Thomas Merton

Changed by the World

The following blog post was written by Sam Shewmaker, former Harding professor or missions and missionary to Rwanda, Africa. I copied it from his blog on the Missional Outreach Network.

 

“Changing the world” is a slogan I heard often during the years I taught missions at a place called Harding University. We had a lot of the younger generation who wanted to ‘make a difference’ in the world and I wondered how long that idealism would last. Best I remember we figured about 18 to 20% of the mission interns we sent out each summer actually returned later to serve full-time in missions for at least two years outside the United States. Not to shabby, maybe.

So whatever happened to the other 80%? Well, I don’t know but I still pray that the seeds planted will yet bear fruit. Oh sure, some went just to see the world, to check off another continent on a tax-free air ticket, been there, done that. But others saw the world with spiritual eyes and returned home changed people… changed by the world.

The world starts at your doorstep or maybe closer. And changing it starts inside of you! Changing your value (or obsession) with safety, overcoming your dread of ‘the world.’ Being willing to live a transformed life before the world, and so earning the credibility to share the transforming message.

Some are pretty good at changing the world from afar, emailing World Bible School lessons or writing cogent missional blog posts. But most people need to see a real, live example of a transformed life lived before them. More of us need to get down and dirty ‘in the world’, living among those who need change and to be changed, entering in to the suffering of a hurting world; being incarnational, not just thinking and writing about it.

Come on World Changers… lift up your eyes… and look across the street… down the block … or around the world! And Go!

Lo que más importa

“Lo que más importa es cómo te ves a ti mismo.” Al revisar el perfil de un hermano de la iglesia encontré esa imagen. Suena bien, ¿verdad? ¡No importa lo que piensan los demás de mí! ¡Yo sé que soy buena gente y eso es lo que importa!

 Creo que como cristianos podemos fácilmente caer en la trampa de pensar que “lo que más importa es cómo te ves a ti mismo.” La escritura deja claro que ese tipo de pensamiento es engaño de Satanás. El hombre, sin Dios, no es capaz de reconocer su propia maldad. Necesitamos conocer a Dios y Su plan para nuestras vidas para darnos cuenta de nuestras fallas.

Uno de las artimañas más empleadas por Satanás es el orgullo. Ese pecado no nos permite vernos a nosotros mismos como Dios nos ve. Si no tomamos en cuenta la Palabra de Dios, fácilmente podríamos vernos como perfectos, o con muy pocos defectos. Podríamos creernos muy fuertes cuando en realidad somos débiles.

Cuando Dios nos dice que somos hijos de él (1 Juan 3), podemos dejar a un lado la percepción que tenemos de nosotros mismos. No hace falta un espejo ni un psicólogo para ayudarnos a descubrir quienes somos y de qué somos capaces. Somos hijos del Rey. Si es así, realmente no importa si somos fuertes o no porque Dios muestra su gran poder en nuestra debilidad. No importa si somos inteligentes porque nuestro Padre Dios es el autor de toda inteligencia y la sabiduría viene de él.

Mensajes como “lo que más importa es cómo te ves a ti mismo” son sencillamente filosofías humanitas y por lo tanto, no provienen de Dios ni de Su Palabra. Deberíamos cuidarnos. Suena bien, ¿verdad? Pero no está bien.

Lo que más importa es cómo Dios te ve.

Authentic Living

Duplicity is one of the greatest threats to the moral fiber of our society. We see it everyday: sports heroes caught doing drugs, exemplary actors and actresses caught up in crime and politicians caught telling lies and stealing from the poor. While many have been caught, many others are yet to be discovered. This duplicity, or inauthentic living has become so common in our society today that many are unable to recognize it and its consequences.

 

In the middle of such deception and deceit, many people cry out, “Where is God? How can there be so much evil in this world? If God would truly the Ruler of the universe, why does He allow so many bad things to happen?”

 

In my ministry I find myself having this conversation on a regular basis. My response usually contains an explanation of man’s free will and the reality that man has pushed God to the outskirts of society, rejecting His plan for life on earth.

 

As Christians we must realize that the only way to show a better way is to live authentically, without duplicity. The simplicity of the Christian faith allows our yes to be yes, and our no to be no. We do not need to make vain promises nor do we need to dazzle people with our eloquence. Yet, what we need to live is a holistic life, in that what we say and do, go together hand and hand, in step with our Lord and Savior.

 

If we do not live like Jesus, if we refuse to be God’s hands and feet on earth, then the world will have no choice but to reject God and His perfect plan. Without contact with authentic living, the future of our world seems rather bleak. Let us, then, live as Christ, freely choosing to do the will of our Father. May we say with Jesus, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Guarding Against Prejudice

One of the greatest challenges the church faces is prejudice. We think that because we are Christians, saved by the blood of Christ that we no longer suffer from prejudging people. The truth is, whether we grew up in the church or not, our society teaches us to be prejudice. However, this is not what God desires! Henri Nouwen has an interesting reflection on guarding ourselves against prejudice.

“One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren’t even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are. We may think that we relate to people who are different from us in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals, but in concrete circumstances our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal that our prejudices are still there.

“Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose our sense of security just by being ‘other.’ Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at ‘those other persons’ as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God’s heart. Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear.”

God wants us to be free of prejudice because it keeps us from seeing people as God sees them. Let us make a concerted effort to avoid prejudging others and ask the Holy Spirit to constantly remind us of Christ’s love for all of humanity, despite their differences.

Here is another reflection from Henri Nouwen: “We spend an enormous amount of energy making up our minds about other people. Not a day goes by without somebody doing or saying something that evokes in us the need to form an opinion about him or her. We hear a lot, see a lot, and know a lot. The feeling that we have to sort it all out in our minds and make judgments about it can be quite oppressive.

“The desert fathers said that judging others is a heavy burden, while being judged by others is a light one. Once we can let go of our need to judge others, we will experience an immense inner freedom. Once we are free from judging, we will be also free for mercy. Let’s remember Jesus’ words: ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged’ (Matthew 7:1).”

Love: Our Motivation for Giving

How many people do you know who give to the poor but honestly do not care much for them? How often do we give to good causes without being emotionally involved? Is it possible that we give to the church and to the Lord out of mere obligation instead of  love?

Amy Carmichael, an Irish missionary to India once wrote that “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”

In our churches, we do not need to teach giving, nor should we teach our obligation to give. We should preach God and his love! If we truly knew God and understood His love, we would be truly transformed by His love.

Once we are touched by the love of God, giving will be our natural response! We will no longer give alms to the poor because of social virtue nor to the church because we know we should. We will love and give because God loves and gives. In our sacrificial giving, we will become like Christ (Ephesians 5:1).

Reflecting God’s Perfect Love

God’s love for us is everlasting. That means that God’s love for us existed before we were born and will exist after we have died. It is an eternal love in which we are embraced. Living a spiritual life calls us to claim that eternal love for ourselves so that we can live our temporal loves – for parents, brothers, sisters, teachers, friends, spouses, and all people who become part of our lives – as reflections or refractions of God’s eternal love. No fathers or mothers can love their children perfectly. No husbands or wives can love each other with unlimited love. There is no human love that is not broken somewhere.

When our broken love is the only love we can have, we are easily thrown into despair, but when we can live our broken love as a partial reflection of God’s perfect, unconditional love, we can forgive one another our limitations and enjoy together the love we have to offer.

Henri Nouwen.