Good News From Grenada

“When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.’” Matthew 8:10
 "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." Matthew 15:27
 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 7:8

Ever know someone who always had something critical to say, someone who was always looking for what was wrong and quick to point it out? Maybe it was a teacher or a parent or a boss? How did you feel about that person? Did their criticism help or hurt? It has always been interesting to me how criticism seems to burn its way onto our minds like bright lights you see long after you close your eyes. Sometimes those burns leave scars.

Some might be thinking, “Wait a minute, aren’t teachers, parents, and bosses supposed to be critical? Isn’t it in the job description?” And of course it is. Solomon writes time after time in Proverbs that a wise man listens to rebuke. Every healthy tree needs to be pruned sometimes. Still, I wonder how often we stop to think about the impact of a rebuke and how easy it is to hand them out.

I find that it is all too natural for me to rip someone up with sarcasm and it just slips my mind completely to compliment or encourage when it is deserved. It is like I think, “Hey, why should I praise you for doing something you should have been doing?” I find myself wondering if I were to track criticisms and compliments that I give in the course of a week, which would be higher? Then I wonder if I have a reputation as someone who is always finding things that are wrong? Do people pass out from shock when I praise them? Then I started looking for examples of Jesus praising others, and wow, did I ever find them. (See Above verses) Surly Jesus could have found a thing or two to rip into these people! Yet he tells them they have great faith. Bet they didn’t feel like they had such great faith. I also bet that Jesus praise was a tape they played over and over in their minds until it became a self fulfilling prophecy.

A good friend suggested that I be careful in my blog about too often showing the bad side of life in Grenada. He was right. Of course there is a bad side to living and ministering anywhere and our sinful nature has this insane tendency to focus on what is wrong. Full church on Sunday and we focus on the couple who weren’t there! Yikes! So, I thought that this month I would talk about what I really like and admire about living and ministering here. The end of August found us back in Grenada after a month long furlough in the states. The trip was wonderful and we accomplished so much, visiting family, doctors appointments, taxes, and other business issues. But we really missed not being here and longed to go home to Grenada.

So what did we miss? The slower pace of things. Traffic is sooo stressful in the States! Everyone is obsessed with accomplishing things and schedules. In Grenada people tend to be more concerned about people. Not everyone is this way of course. It is silly to stereotype because every person is unique and there are rare Grenadians who don’t seem to care about anyone, but most of them do. I watched an interesting video on Utube that I think really reflects the kind of priorities you often find on the island and how they differ from what I was used to. I tried and failed to upload it onto my page, but here is the link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McvCJley78A  My friend says that Grenadians are comfortable in their own skin and he knows better than I would. It seems to me they are contentment.

Putting people first affects everything. When you meet people in the store you greet them with a big beaming smile and you stop to talk and ask how they are doing, even if you don’t know them well or at all. In restaurants they remember what you like and ask about you and your family and remember when you tell them. It is not uncommon to receive several blessings a day for good health and prosperity and protection for you and family. It is a little like being part of a small town in the US like Mischicot, WI where all my relatives are from. Everyone knows everyone and for the most part wishes them well. A great example of this is the large group of members who wanted to meet us at the airport when we returned. Unfortunately, the buses didn’t run that late and those picking us up needed the space for all our luggage. But I can’t remember ever being met at the airport by members of a congregation glad to have you back.

Another aspect that I missed is the lively worship at Grace. It just seems to me that the people of Grace worship from the heart. They are exuberant in their praise and openly personal in their prayers. You can tell that they are into the message whenever God’s Word is taught. Often people who visit us comment on this.
  About a half dozen other ways to praise the people here come to my mind, their endurance, their love of music, their resilience, their raw talent, their creativity. They will have to wait for another blog. In closing I want also praise our Father for allowing us to serve in such a beautiful place. There are some places for me that make you feel like you are closer to God. The Cascade Mountains were one of those places. That is why I so loved to hunt there every year when we lived there. It is impossible in those mountains not to feel small, like you are standing before your Maker in all His glory. Grenada is that way. It isn’t a tourist trap built for man’s glory like many other vacation locations. This island is famous for its stunning natural beauty and that is fanatically guarded by its people. Rarely does a day go by when I do not find myself in conversation with God about what amazing work he did here. It will be exactly a year we have been here on September 15^th. I am still pinching myself to see if it is real. God bless your week and don’t forget to hand out some praise!

After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. John 6:14-15

“Brother Don’t You Walk Away” he said reaching out with a bony hand and toothless grimace. Let's call him Karim, not his real name, most call him by names I’d rather not print. Karim is an aggressive beggar who hangs out at the ATMs on “Wall” street and hounds tourists and natives alike for handouts. Karim makes you feel very uncomfortable, but he won’t go out to eat with you. He just wants money. I gave him a ride once, he stunk like rum, sweat, and ganja and he got angry with me for not giving him money. I had to tell him to get out and walk. My friend Kester says to leave him alone because the more he has the faster he will kill himself. He says the drugs have already rotted out his teeth and probably a lot more. Kester should know because he was there himself once. 

Beggars are common in Grenada although Karim is the most aggressive I have seen. Most of them are pretty harmless and most of those in need are not out begging. Like any society beggars are outcasts in Grenada but they are fairly common for several reasons. First there are fewer jobs, secondly it is very hot in the heat of the day and wages are not always what they should be, third Grenadian climate allows them to live with a lot less than people in many other countries. Being back in the USA on furlough has again reminded me how much stuff we Americans have that we really don’t need or use. I don’t mean to be simplistic there are a lot of other reasons for the poverty, it is a complicated issue but it poses a constant ministry dilemma. When is helping someone really helping them and when is it enabling people to continue in behaviours that got them into poverty in the first place? And when does helping others compliment God’s mission for us and when does it get in the way of it?

I think Jesus experienced this dilemma as well. He spent a lot of time reaching out to needy people but it was not his main purpose. His main purpose was to save a sinful, broken world from sin. He came to heal our most basic disease, not the symptoms of it. Yet there was so much need and he had so much love and so much power, he just couldn’t resist helping. The astonishing thing is that the helping of needs actually took away from his main purpose! You may have to reread that last sentence. The text above is a great example. The people wanted a bread king, not a Saviour from sin and death. It wasn’t the only time. Remember the time the friends dropped a lame man through the roof to get healed and Jesus forgives him his sins. Probably not what they had in mind. Good thing the Pharisees were so outraged by the forgiveness thing or they might disappointingly have had to haul out a crippled forgiven man. Or how about King Herod who just wanted to see a miracle? Crowds of people hounded Jesus many of them to be healed. Why would Jesus want to get away from them with his disciples to the other side of the lake? In fact why spend so much time with just 12 guys in the first place? Wasn’t Jesus playing favourites? Weren’t there a lot of other people going hungry? Needing healing? Why did Jesus so often help people physically and materially and then tell them to go and not tell anyone? Could it be that Jesus knew that answering people’s every physical need was actually in some cases detrimental to their faith?

Helping people who are down and out has been a part of the ministry of Grace since the beginning. Following Hurricane Ivan Grace, with the help of brothers and sisters in the WELS, were the first, strongest, and longest to help those in desperate need. When the dust cleared the government of Grenada awarded a plaque of commendation to the ministry of Grace Lutheran church for the benevolent aid to the people of Grenada in time of dire need. It hangs to this day in a prominent place. But that is just one example. We have a well deserved reputation as a place to go if you need help, we are proud of this and seek to continue this kind of service to our people.

At the same time, I have discovered in over a year of service in this ministry that many who came to us for material aid were staying only as long as they were getting that aid and gone when it ceased. That may be astonishing to some, how can people receive so much and be so ungrateful? Well, remember when Jesus healed ten lepers, literally restoring their lives to them from that terrible wasting disease, only one of them returned to thank him! It’s crazy, but sinful human beings tend to lapse into a survival mentality that is always grasping for more, rarely stopping to give thanks. God doesn’t continue to bless such ungratefulness, sooner or later he turns a deaf ear in hopes that the people he loves would wake up and see that He deserves love in return. When Jesus refused to be their bread king, his popularity waned. The lesson is not that we quit being generous to those in need, but rather that we use wisdom. God give us discernment to see when ongoing charity is actually taking away from His ministry.

We left on furlough to the US at the end of July and we will be here until the end of August. Hans Metzger is doing excellent work serving in our absence. Before we left though July was a very busy month, the highlight of which was the youth rally trip to the US. To me the best part of that whole trip was that some young people came back committed to be stronger leaders in God’s work and immediately showed it. They had more confidence and were more active. Shartoina showed up early to a school skills workshop Ellen put on and along with Donessa were by far the most reliable helpers for that workshop. We learned a lot about doing such workshops as outreach tools in the future and will do this again during holidays and next summer.

Marinus took a stronger role in worship stepping up to play the bass on several occasions. The praise band got a chance to play for a public school graduation and took it. They were so happy to have us that I ended up handing out diplomas and leading their prayers. It was the first time that many of our musicians had a chance to play in a non worship public format and it was good experience as well as good outreach for the church. Rhonda sang twice this month in worship and we very much enjoyed her amazing voice.

I continued regular visits to the villages with the help of both Kester and Belinda who have been so good at helping me. I was able to go out visiting twice a week visiting with both members and prospects. We are still working on updating our membership and prospect lists. In several cases I found myself doing marriage counselling during visits. It seemed to be a rough month for marriages.

The youth group had a great Bible study on the Lord’s Supper and on another Saturday we held a Scavenger hunt down on the Aquarium beach. Great thanks to Shartoina, Donessa, Marinus, and Patrick for being such leaders in making this youth activity work. So, what do you hunt for on a Grenadian scavenger hunt? How about a Paw-Paw, a live lizard, white sea weed, a live crab, 12 Carib beer caps, and the most unusually shaped choral. Team Manicou (kind of Possum) squeaked out a victory over Team Iguana.

Finally, a year ago yesterday we left Everett for Grenada. What a time of emotional turmoil that was! Seems like that was so long ago. Now we are tired of city traffic and ready to go home to Grenada.

Here are a number of pics from the long anticipated youth rally trip to the US! Thanks so much to the people of Emmanuel, New London, Wisconsin for making this happen. Our young people are so excited and still talking about what happened. Not one of them had ever been to the US and until this trip only one of them had ever been off island! I would say that the pictures speak for themselves and the memories will last a lifetime. At the end is a link to the Emmanuel web site with even more pictures.

 

   

  

 
 

  

And here is the link...

http://www.emanuelnl.org/site/galdisplay.asp?sec_id=3333&gallery_id=4906&caption=- 1&galname=Iowa%20State%20University%20Rally%20%2709&galpath=/home/2286/3333/images /

³"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."    Mark 4:3-8

What a challenging month! First of all the rains started slowly but surely. Everything began to green up, but our youth painting service project got delayed again and again. It was amazing how fast the jungle and the bugs returned. By the end of the month we decided the rookie pastor made a poor choice of projects for this time of year and put it off till fall when God please we will finally put a coat of paint on Adica’s house at the top of Cherry Hill. The youth did have a very fun movie night and a great Bible study on Baptism.

  Seven of our youth went to Barbados to get visas to go to the WELS youth rally next month. They had a successful trip and are very excited about going to the WELS Youth Rally in July. Melvaughn Coutain and Jazelle Sylvester are leading the trip. The youth that are going are Donessa Belgrave, Adica Slinger, Shartona Whiteman, Desary Smith, Sam Soukup, and Marinus Coutain. Dei Sylvester has put in so much work putting this trip together which was no small task considering almost all our youth had no experience travelling out of the country and what is involved. We are especially thankful to the WELS church in New London that is sponsor our youth and helping greatly with the costs and logistics in making this happen. I am sure we will have many stories to share next month.

We had two congregation meetings to address concerns from some of our people over past and current ministry direction. Trustees began working on a short and long range plan for ministry and a rough draft of this was presented to the congregation to address issues on the congregation meeting agenda. We also began to iron out confusion over membership and prospect lists. These are in the process of being updated. It was determined that we would have more frequent congregation meetings according to our bylaws. It was also determined that we would do a revision of our bylaws before the end of the year to bring them in line with how we are actually functioning. Bob Hartman has agreed to come in October to help us with this and with our lay leadership training program.

Both Ellen and I each picked up one new music student this month. Our praise band chose a name “Not of This World” and accepted an invitation to play for a local school’s graduation ceremony and reception. Our Saturday night jam had some very good turnouts and also some very average turnouts. The Band learned three new songs this month two of them we used in worship.

In worship we finished our series on the Armour of God and returned to the pericope selections for the Pentecost season. Weeknight Bible Class continued a study on the book of Proverbs. The ladies Bible Class also started a new series on Proverbs.

Visits pastor made this month include the following... Louise Smith, Esmay & Rockell Nicholas, Bill & Sandy Blount, Dr Glen Duncan, Patrick Raoch, Kester Francis, May & Adica Slinger, Trevor Francis, Irma & Mombara Marryshow, Marcus Slinger, Donessa & Andris Belgrave, Desmond Lewis, Jackie & Melvaughn Coutain, Marinus Coutain, Devon & Debra Slinger, Martin Sylvester, Susan Slinger, Dave Kennedy, Nic Strong, Dariel & Donrick Montrose, Dawn Alexander, Rolda Plenty, George Plenty, Joan Maitland and many others. Special thanks to Belinda Nesbitt for coming out with pastor on some of my visits. Thanks also to our ladies who visited both Susan Slinger during her hernia surgery process and Heather Sylvester as she recovers from her broken ankle.

Pray for families this month. Pray for the gift of love and patience for those here who are married and struggling. Pray also for single mom’s trying to raise young ones while working.

Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.    Philippians 1:11

Originally I started doing this blog as a devotional reflection on our lives as my family strove to adapt to doing mission work in Grenada. This was very helpful to me and to friends and family who cared and some of you even found my writing worth adding to your devotional time. It is astonishing what God can do with so little, eh? I am sure I will occasionally still do a little of this, but what I would like to do is share with you a bit more about what went on here in ministry over the last month. I did do a little of that but I will do even more now, especially since as time goes by and we settle in even more is going on. Many of you are supporting us in prayer and with gifts and you need to know how God is working and challenging us, kind of like how Paul often did in his letters; see above reference.

This month Jazelle Sylvester, having completed her first year of Wisconsin Lutheran College, has come home to serve Grace as a Youth Ministry leader. Jazelle is being supported in her training by gifts through our ministry and we are thrilled to have her back for the summer. Jazelle is training to be a nurse. She has been helping with hospital visits, Sunday School, some home visits, and youth activities and meetings. The first week we also attended an excellent workshop on domestic violence that should be very helpful in future ministry. We feel that Jazelle is also an excellent mentor for our young people. Walter Kugler and wife Anchala were kind enough to allow Jazelle to stay at their home while they are gone for the summer.

The first weekend Jazelle took 24 youth on a hike and swim up to the Seven Sisters Falls. It was not without incident, but we learned some things and all had fun and returned safely. We were very pleased that we had a number of guests join us. We have had a surge in attendance at youth activities over the past month. Part of that has to do with young people getting involved with our music programs.

Our Saturday night jam session continues to attract visitors and several of them are coming regularly to worship on Sunday and youth group. It is interesting to note that the number of men joining us in our Saturday night jam equals the number in worship on Sunday morning! This program has the potential to double the number of men in our congregation within the year and not all of them are youth. In particular I want to mention Patrick and Delron would have shown so much passion for praising Jesus and also our drummer Kester who has been such a leader in this program and a mentor for our musicians. We average between 10 and 15 people youth and adults for this every week and have had as many as 25. Donessa is also helping us incorporate pan into our music and the Saturday group has been good at help me to learn local music and plan for worship. It is a joy to work with this group because they are excited to sing and worship. They call me weekly and they rarely miss activities.

The ladies too had a fun month. They held their first ladies tea and had 14 attend in spite of having 4 of our ladies in the hospital at the time. The ladies brought guests and there was great fellowship and games. See pic of Belinda in her paper bag dress after the fashion contest. Alice and Belinda are still trashing talking about which group’s dress is better. Once a month we also have a family fun night where we just fellowship, snack and play games. This has been very popular as word gets out and more and more join us each month.

  Worship attendance and offerings have been up slightly and we have been focusing on God’s Word in a series on the “Armor of God” from Ephesians 6. We are just finishing a Bible Basics series (Confirmation) on Sunday Morning and the youth are about half way through this year’s confirmation series. Our next Bible study series on Sundays will be “Friendship Evangelism”.

We had a number of our Ladies in the hospital and I was so proud of our people who went to visit them. Heather broke her leg. Andris had a growth removed. Lisa Slinger can’t keep anything down during her pregnancy and Alice’s daughter is having mom/baby issues. All of them are now out and doing well! Thanks to the ladies who rallied to support their sisters. Marcus Slinger is also having digestion issues but is doing better. It is a joy to bring these people God’s Word and blessing through prayer.

I am doing much better at visiting the villages and finding our people. I don’t walk around as much as the former pastor; no one can fill those shoes. But God is still using me often by rolling up my sleeves and helping. One week I used my tools to help someone fix his roof. Another week a few members and I rebuilt a chicken coop for a disabled child’s orphanage. I think this kind of thing says a lot more than just walking around. It says I am willing to sweat with them. And yet it isn’t as insulting or enabling as a hand out sometimes can be. I pray every morning that God would use me as his hands and lead me where He wants me; that HE would speak through my lips. I know that is kind of seat of the pants approach to God’s work, but it feels right for me and God is blessing it. BTW, pray for Devon Slinger this month. I think God wants that young man in our church. God keeps putting us together.

Once again we had a Wisconsin Lutheran College group down, this time to study Marine Biology and our reef. They were here ten days and led two fascinating Bible Classes for us. Professor Anderson also met with our trustees and me to help us evaluate ministry and future planning. They again brought us down some much needed equipment and were very encouraging for our work. We so value their partnership in our work here!

What’s up next month? More youth activities including a service project. A summer educational workshop with Ellen Soukup and Jazelle. The Saturday night band is going to play a night at a local restaurant. (Yes you can sing about Jesus in a restaurant in Grenada! And they don’t throw you out.) A congregation meeting to assess ministry and plan for future direction. We are also planning our furlough in August and Hans Metzger’s return to help us with ministry the end of July.I already mentioned the Friendship evangelism focus and who knows where else God will lead us. One thing is for sure, it is never boring doing ministry in Grenada! 

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labour for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me. Philippians 2:14-18

“If you had my problems, you’d be complaining too!” she said dragging her dog up the beach like a skier behind a speed boat. “Nothing has gone right this week at all.” I tried to point out that it was a gorgeous day, that many people would love to be out of their offices walking down a Caribbean beach, but she would have none of it. The kids, the economy, the husband, the pandemic flu, the local government, the school system, it was an impressive list! I was getting discouraged just listening to her.

In God’s usual uncanny way that morning I had read the above verses in my devotion time. The writer made the point that complaining is addictive. He described this cyclical process; you’ve got a problem, you complain, you are still stuck in it, so you complain even more, so you add anxiety and stress to the problem, which makes things even worse. Before you know it you are grumbling like the Israelites in the desert. Remember the story? We want to go back to Egypt for the leeks? Speaking of the 23,000 God had enough of we are told in 1 Corinthians 10, “Do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages has come.” Yikes!

Today I am grumbling to myself because I pulled a muscle in my leg working out and it is keeping me from going out and helping a friend do some repairs on his house. Then I remembered a friend of mine who has no legs and suddenly I was thinking in a little different perspective. I found myself thanking God for muscles to pull. That is what God wants me to do, focus on the good things he has done and is doing. Rejoice in the Lord always... Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:4 Boy that is hard to do but it sure makes a difference in attitude, people who think like this charge you up just being around them. Complainers drain your batteries faster than a teenager downs a Pepsi. I am willing to bet that has at least something to do with who you hang out with or not; worth a thought anyway.

Thankfully Grenadians do not complain much. It is a funny thing because many of them have a lot to complain about. I am not sure why this is. I think in general they tend to be more content with their lot than Ex Pats. Ex Pats on the other hand can complain a lot. Not all of them, but a goodly portion of them.

  Ex Pat is short for Ex Patriot, a term used to describe people who live in Grenada but are not from here. Ellen and I are Ex Pats. We have developed a lot of Ex Pat friendships. Ex Pats are like a whole different culture on their own. They come from all over the world, the UK, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Thailand, even Boston! They all have one thing in common, they were not born here and they are trying to live in this culture. Some Ex Pats do this amazingly well and others do not, to be honest it is not easy sometimes, this explains the complaining.

Our Ex Pat friends have played such an important role in helping us adapt to island life and they continue to bring us joy on a weekly basis. We now have friends from all over the world and it is so fascinating to sit with these people and share their experiences and perspectives. We enjoy their banter and their humour, being so far from home really creates a bond that might not be there otherwise. Rarely does a week go by when we don’t get together with some of them at one of our homes or a restaurant or out on the beach on Sunday afternoon. We talk about the week and what is happening in the world and we give each other a hard time. We support and encourage each other and occasionally we are serious with each other. One of our Ex Pat friends is fighting an ongoing battle with lung cancer. We hope it lasts a long time, but we worry. Her husband blew me away a few weeks ago by asking me if I would bury her when the time comes. Who knows, God willing by the time the dust clears we will share more than just that we are not from here.

In closing I want to note the passing of an old friend in Seattle, Jim Braun; Greg’s father. Jim is a character. He was mad at the Catholic Church but he honoured his Lord like an old soldier honours a superior officer. God was in charge, there was no doubt in his mind, God would get him where He wanted him, He trusted completely. Now that old soldier is telling stories at his Commander’s feet and when we get to heaven he will be waiting to give the tour, talking enthusiastically the whole time. “And these are the streets of gold, I walk here all the time, you should see it when all the angels are out here...” Come on Greg, you know you are smiling.

Jim was not perfect. Sometimes we scratch our head wondering why God allows us to be as flawed as we are, picks the characters he does. I can answer that, He does it to prove how outrageously gracious He can be. And so Jim has joined David and Gideon and Joshua and all the other flawed warriors God has called home. His loved ones will miss him. But when it comes down to it... we have no complaints.

“These are the men David put in charge of the music in the house of the LORD after the ark came to rest there. They ministered with music before the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon built the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem. They performed their duties according to the regulations laid down for them. Here are the men who served, together with their sons: From the Kohathites: Heman, the musician, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel… (Goes on to list 20 some other lead musicians. It is reasonable to assume these leaders trained, composed, and even built instruments all designed to praise their Maker. Isn’t it interesting that God lists them all by name? Why? Kind of cool that God knew each of them and obviously cared about what they did.) 1 Chronicles 6:31-33

“So, you have been there long enough to adjust, what are you doing in ministry? How are you going to reach the people?” Over the past few months I have had that question several times and it is a good one. To be honest, I do not have a complete answer. I am still learning about these people, still evaluating what was done in the past and wrestling with how God wants us to go. And really that is the first answer to that question, if God doesn't do it, it doesn't matter what we try. One of the things the former pastor did well and is something very few churches on the island are doing is emphasizing God’s grace. We continue to do that and in the process we are doing a lot of good ministry in a trial and error mode, but we are also struggling.

When there is a change in pastors there is almost always a time of turmoil in congregations. Some love their old pastor so much that the new guy will never fill those old shoes. It may even be enough to cause them to go elsewhere. In some cases the old pastor had such a strong relationship with the people that he could hold families in conflict together and had more influence on the straying. The new guy just doesn’t have the closeness with the people yet.  Throw in the loss of two leaders, a death and a move and things are starting to feel a bit like Gideon down at the creek getting his army thinned to 300. Our worship attendance is down and that is always a concern, especially in a small church. I would be less than honest if I said I wasn’t feeling some grief in this.

So, what are we doing? Well God’s Word is being taught, of course. What happens on Sunday morning is the most important event of the week for a church family. It is also the time we reach the most people. Bible Class and Sunday School have been limited by the space we have but have had good attendance and excellent discussion centered on the Word. We have made some changes to worship to make it a little less formal and more celebratory. The result I believe is more people singing together in worship, especially the young people. Not everyone is happy with going less formal. Some Grenadians prefer more formal worship. The Catholic Church on the island is very formal. It was interesting at the Catholic funeral that I attended last week that more than a few had dozed off in the course of the lengthy service. Not sure if that is a regular thing or not, but it is my observation that many Grenadians prefer their worship lively. There was an outdoor “Gospel Splash” concert on Palm Sunday that packed the botanical gardens in spite of the $25 EC cover charge. The word is starting to get out that Grace is involved with gospel and praise music and training musicians and people are starting to come.

We are training musicians. I now have 6 guitar students. Ellen has several keyboard students and Kester has a couple drum students. Of these students about half are members and half not and about half youth and half adult. On Saturday nights we are having an open “Jam” session where all musicians are invited to play together and sing gospel music. This has never failed to bring in guests and on one occasion as many as 30 people singing and listening to our jam. This has already brought new musicians into our church. I think it will continue to be a way to reach out to our community bringing in musicians to our church, training new ones, and gathering people who love lively worship music. The biggest challenge with this has been getting instruments here. If any of you know a way I can transport instruments here to sell to students then I am all ears. There are no music stores in Grenada. There are very few music teachers here. I have already shipped three guitars here with travelers and sold them to students. The best part in all of this is that people are coming to us and it has established enough of a relationship with some to get an excellent chance to share God’s Grace with them.

We are also trying to strengthen a family bond among our people through fellowship. There is a song that goes, “If love is in the house, the house is packed.” I think there is some truth to that. If your people genuinely like each other that is contagious, others want to be a part of it. Unfortunately, like any other congregation, we have our share of conflict. We brought back family game night once a month and it was very well attended, a lot of fun. We are hoping fellowship after church on Easter is good as well. Perhaps we can even persuade the busses to leave a half an hour later on Sunday just to foster more fellowship among our people. I always felt our church in Washington was superb at that and many people came because they were so friendly. Others felt welcome. At Grace the busses leave right after Bible class and everyone is gone in a matter of minutes. Grenadians are friendly, they love to socialize. I am still learning, but from what I see, a church that fellowships well will thrive here.

Anyway, pray for us as we learn and grow. Just some brief news on individuals. Walter & Anchela are now married! Grandfather Anderson was called home to heaven this past Monday. Have a great Easter as we celebrate together the One who conquered death for us!

"I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” Job 31:1            
"We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5

No, you did not log on to the wrong web site. A title like that probably conjures all kinds of bizarre pictures in your mind. Grenada has no boiling black kettles over bonfires and scantily clad natives dancing to congas in dark jungle clearings, at least none that I have seen yet. But sex is a big deal in Grenada as it is everywhere else. There are just some very different attitudes about it that we are not used to and that I am still trying to get a handle on. I know it is risky writing about a subject like this. No one wants to talk about it, but it is a big problem and getting bigger, everywhere. Grenada is no exception. If you are going to understand what is different about island life then in my opinion this subject should be part of it.

When I first got the call here a former missionary in the Caribbean gave me a book called “Caribbean Sexuality”. I tried to read it and it had a lot of good points in it but it was tedious reading and I didn’t finish it. That the missionary gave me such a book in the first place is revealing. That a Caribbean pastor saw the need to write such a book is also interesting. So what is the big deal? Well, actually there isn’t a big deal. People just think there is a big deal.
 Several of our members have told me that many Caribbean men, NOT ALL OF THEM, think they are super gifted lovers. This island “mystique” some say is fostered by the tourism industry. Many come seeking “the full” Grenadian experience and some Grenadians are only happy to oblige. I am not sure what to think of all this “mystique” stuff, but Ellen and I are a bit tired of her getting solicited on the beach whenever she is alone. And I can understand that my wife is very beautiful and a bit unusual looking for Grenada, but there are way too many guys who look at her with hungry eyes right in front of me! Grenadian women seem to have mixed emotions about their men as well, kind of a cross between amusement and frustration/exasperation. But often they are not innocent either. Grenadian women are extremely attractive people and many of them are adept at exploiting the sexual power they have over men. Sexiness, especially among the younger women, seems to be cherished far more than beauty. Some would say this is a part of their culture. And although this goes on everywhere, there is an intensity and a commonality here that is greater than other places I have lived.

There is no doubt that this obsession with sex has led to some disastrous problems here. AIDS is an issue they are constantly trying to address and never getting a handle on. Young unwed mothers are extremely common and if not for the way extended families stick together here, things would be a disaster. As it is far too many children are growing up without father figures.

A couple of guys have tried to justify all this to me by telling me that God made women beautiful and it is good to enjoy beauty. This is true to an extent, but God made my wife beautiful for me, not for my neighbour. Nor did God make that young lady on the beach beautiful for me. She belongs to her Lord and her partner, present or future. Some might be thinking, “What is a little look? It isn’t hurting anyone!” But it is. Every forbidden snapshot and video is burned into your memory. They sow seeds of discontent and fuel desire. Satan makes sure those snapshots play over and over again like a scratched CD in our minds. Instead of cherishing your mate they make you critical. They curdle true love like milk gone bad. The more you indulge in those snapshots the more obsessed you become, until you become their slave.

The Lord says, “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28) For many this is the weakness Satan uses to get at us. And with the internet, He is succeeding at an all time high. If I am describing you then it is time to stop and fight back. Satan lost power over you a long time ago, just over 2000 years to be exact when Jesus paid for your guilt on the cross and gave you his Spirit. There is no longer an excuse; this is your choice which God allows you to make or not to make. We can drown the Old Adam in us and “take captive every thought for Christ” as Paul says in the opening passages.

You might be thinking at this point that this is nothing unique to Grenada and you are right. This is a problem everywhere. The real question may be why is this happening with greater intensity all over. At least part of the answer is that the love of most is growing cold as Jesus predicts about the end times and I think since we are not finding real love in marriage and families we are frantically searching for it in the false arms of errotic love. Like drinking sea water, it only makes you more thirsty. So the problem gets worse and worse.

If you are a man and you are honest, it is a problem for you, and if you care about obedience to God then you are in a battle every day over this issue. Solomon writes, “Above all, guard your heart.” (Proverbs 17:17) You may have to get help, call in a buddy or hire a counsellor. You definitely need to get closer to your Heavenly Father, “Hide His Word in your heart.” (Psalm 119:11) Talk to him in prayer. Think on what is noble and pure. Refuse to give in to any “strange island fertility mystique”. It is a house of cards stacked way too high.

The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom. And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, because on that day the troops heard it said, "The king is grieving for his son." The men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle. The king covered his face and cried aloud, "O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!" 2 Samuel 19:1-4

 One of the first things I learned about ministering overseas before I even got to Grenada is that culture in other places is different, not good or bad, just different. That lesson has served me a thousand times since we got here. A funny thing happens though the longer you are in a place. Things that once seemed different start to seem very ordinary. It is becoming increasing harder for me to write about things that are different here because they are starting to seem normal. It is really scary when I am watching US news and I see something about my home culture and think, “that is really different.” Not that we are even close to being Grenadian or will ever be, but we are changing.

Another observation on culture that I am finding is that every culture has sub cultures. For instance, Grenada is like the US in that there is a Yout culture (not misspelled, sometimes I tink da Norwegian Vikings spent more time in the Caribbean than historians tink because dey have similar dialects) and an older generation culture. Culture seems to also be sub-divided by religion, economics, place of origin, and even politics. You can say though that there are commonalities to people from Grenada. History, climate, economics, politics, values, and all sorts of things shape us.

I am learning that culture is also a constantly changing thing. For instance, in Grenada almost no one works on Sunday. The US was once this way, but that has changed and it seems to be changing here as well. There are many things like this I find refreshing about Grenada culture, like their preference for dressing up for church on Sunday or their strong feelings against homosexuality. It would be nice if the US could go back to things that used to be part of our culture. Not likely to happen though.

One of the things that is somewhat different about Grenadian culture is their approach to funerals. Most people where I come from do not like funerals. They avoid them if at all possible and when they have to go they want it short and sweet and then move on. I am not sure why Americans are this way. We don’t like death? We are trying to deny it? Maybe too few of us are ready to face it ourselves? Don’t really care enough about our neighbours? Probably many reasons.

 Funerals are a big deal for Grenadians. Not that I am any kind of expert on these things. Cherrils funeral last Friday was my first experience. But they seem to have big crowds and they are an all afternoon affair. It is not unusual to see an entire graveyard covered with standing people dressed in black singing their hearts out. Cherril’s memorial service was packed to overflowing. They had a TV and speakers and chairs in the parking lot outside. The viewing of the body and the shutting of the casket were emotional and everyone but the family showed up early to see, this in a place where most are often late to things. Cherril’s mom and sister were extremely distraught which I guess is not unusual for Grenada. Not all Grenadians like what some of them call “the theatrics” and some of them stay away because of it. On the other hand, I can understand the grief. No mom should have to bury her children.

We sang over a half a dozen old gospel songs so loud I am sure they could hear us down in St George’s market. Friends and family courageously got in front and did scripture readings and a tribute to Cherril. The graveside process was even more different. Almost every one of us followed the casket on foot to the grave where after words of comfort from the scripture they buried her in front of us and we helped throw the dirt, arrange the stones and flowers, and then stood there in the sun singing a half a dozen songs over and over. I will never forget Cherril’s spiritual sisters, the Lutheran Women of Christ, standing in uniform on a large crypt above Cherril’s grave holding hands and leading the crowd in song. It was like no one wanted to leave Cherril alone in that place! Never in 20 some years of ministry have I experienced anything like it. One family member even passed out from standing there in the heat or maybe it was something else I am not sure. A week later I am still processing everything. Maybe I am just slow about things like that.

In any case, we shared an experience that brought us closer together. The gospel was preached, Cherril was honoured, Jesus was praised for conquering death for us, and I learned more about the people I am trying to serve. Thanks again to Dei Sylvester for making all the arrangements and for walking patiently with me through things. I am not always an easy guy to work with, kind of like David in the above reference, only not as many redeeming qualities. Hah!

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:13-16

 I drove up to Cherril’s house today with a heavy heart. It is a place I got to know well over the last six months, at least once a week, every week. The best part of the Cherril’s home is gone. The place looks totally different. Brown (Cherril’s dog) is lying out front crying and looking down the path for someone who will not return. Everything is cleaned up and locked up, empty. I went there looking for Dwight, Cherril’s 14 year old son. Both Dwight’s parents are gone now. I wanted to offer some comfort and support, find out what his plans are. What can you say to a young man in a situation like that? Even the most powerful words seem inadequate. The funeral is tomorrow I will have to wait to see Dwight there. I am praying that the Word’s of God tomorrow will pierce through the grief and numbness he must be feeling.

I know that the people of Grace will miss her dearly. She is a delightful character who loves to banter with you. She cares about people and when she smiles the world around her lights up. Cherril is a strong woman, strong faith, she showed amazing persistence going through so much. Cherril is an heir of heaven. She is in a better place and we are very blessed to have had her here for awhile.

 Cherril is not the only pillar leaving us. Jean England is moving back to the UK. Jean got involved with Grace through Joyce Radloff. They were tennis partners and are good friends. Jean was also a leader in the women’s group and a gifted flute player. She is the only flute player I know who led worship most of the time without a keyboard, amazing. Jean has been so supportive of us newbies and as an ex-pat really befriended Ellen and helped her adjust. I believe it is important to honor people like this whom God gives to your ministry and I am afraid I can do neither Cherril nor Jean justice because I was not here. Every church has people like this. They are pillars that hold a spiritual family up and together. They have a long history of faithfulness and they rarely get what they deserved for their service. One day, like Cherril they will. In the meantime, why wait? Find the pillars in your church and tell them, “Thanks, we wouldn’t be the same without God’s blessing through you.”

Finally, I would like to thank all those who helped with financial gifts for Cherril's ongoing dialysis expenses. Your aid meant more than you know. You gave hope to those who were experiencing a hope famine. We will continue to support the Grenada Kidney Foundation as we are able for we have made many friends and some of our people are invloved. We also occasionally find ourselves in a situation to help others with medical needs who have no way to pay for treatment. You who were there for these people are also pillars holding our ministry up. We wouldn't be the same without you.

Brown is still there crying on the dirt path as I drive away. We know how you feel Brown. We too are longing for our master, longing for a better place, hoping that soon we can be united with our loved ones. Cherril & Jean, we will miss you. The memories are precious to us. Thank you, with tears, thank you. They will be tears of joy soon enough, in the sweet bye and bye.

“Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds…  When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."  
"But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."  
The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"  
"But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." Judges 6

“How can you have so little confidence? You have so many gifts? God is with you? What is wrong with you?” I hate questions like this and not just when others ask them, because I keep asking them of myself. I hate these questions because they reveal gaping weaknesses in my heart and head. Yet too often I find myself in Gideon’s company, and Moses, and Joshua, and David, and Peter, and Paul and all the rest who express doubt in their competence, the overwhelming nature of what God asked them to accomplish, and are frustrated with God’s latest test of patience and lesson on trust. I am sooo sick of fear, fear of failure, fear of what others think, fear that I won’t matter or that no one cares, fear that my fear is going to let others down, fear for my loved ones, and all the other endless fears. All my life I have been hiding or suppressing fear. “Never let them see you sweat” you know, “Think positive”. But the fears remain, nagging at the back of your mind.

For me, this is the hardest part of being a missionary, dealing with fears. I know I am not alone in this. My guess is that there are a lot of leaders in the business world, the church, and in families right now that are sharing my frustration with fear. I long for those precious few moments in my life when God wraps me so tightly in his grip that I soar on eagle’s wings, when He sets me back down on a rock and I look back in awe and think, “Wow, that just happened, what was that?” I feel that way sometimes when I am preaching or when I am swimming in the sea or when I am holding my wife or when I am singing praises with others. Then it is gone and I am yearning again for the perfect love that drives out fear. Back and forth I go from fear to love and from love back to fear.

This up and down process is about as close as you can get to describing any missionary’s ministry, maybe anyone’s life/ministry for that matter. We have been here six months now. The time is flying by. Each Sunday I am scratching my head wondering where the week went. Each week there are moments of exhilaration, like this past week visiting with delightful members, or putting on a concert with teens at Wesley College, or the jam session on Saturday night with guests, or the large youth group excitedly planning a trip to the US youth rally, or progress we make settling in to our apartment. Then there are the lows, the unanswered phone calls, members back in the hospital, the difficulties of making contacts, financial fears, lukewarm commitment to worship and Bible Study, relationships that don’t always go the way you expected, and other more confidential setbacks.

The youth group trip is a great example of highs and lows. We got a generous offer from a congregation in Wisconsin to help our youth go to the National Youth Rally this summer. Our kids were thrilled and at this point as many as a dozen want to go. Almost all of them have never been off the island of Grenada. This is a lifetime experience for them. However, the expense is considerable and the process to get a visa to visit the US is even worse. Already there are tears because not all that want to can go. Cherril is another example, one week she is doing well, the next week she is back in the hospital. Our family is another example. Jake is back in the US and we miss him, but he has a job and is doing well in his stay at Ellen’s sister Elaine and he husband Scott. Jake is working in a Chinese restaurant and saving money in a time when many are jobless. Sam is doing better in school and making good friends, but is bored without his brothers. Joe and Amanda and baby Luke are all healthy in Seattle but struggling financially. Ellen is working out at the gym now and totally relieved to be unpacking our own stuff after living out of suitcases for five months. Of course Ellen has no lows, none that I can share anyway without sleeping on the porch tonight.

So, thanks for the prayers. I know you are thinking of us. But mostly it is comforting to know that as long as Jesus cares we are not going alone. Jesus, please help me to see and feel your constant presence and love. Drive out our fears. Help us to soar again. Sorry I need so much reassurance, way too much Gideon in me.

“This water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God.”  1 Peter 3:21

 

Isn’t pledge a interesting word? I pledge allegiance to the flag. Grenadian flags are everywhere as they are celebrating their 35^th year of independence this week and Grenadians are very patriotic. Moving away from the country I have pledged my allegiance to has changed my perspective on such things. How excellent is it that God creates and uses governments to protect us and carry out justice. I also pledged my trough (old marriage vow language) to my wife. Not sure my wife wants my trough, didn’t even know I had a trough, but I pledged it anyway. So, I have been thinking about  pledges.

 

A pledge often involves a token that represents a promise of something that has or will be done. For instance, my wedding ring is a pledge of my faithfulness and love to Ellen. Every time I see or feel that ring I am reminded of my pledge. Before I met my wife I was not much of a jewelry wearer. I can’t even keep a watch on my wrist. But my wedding ring was different. It wasn’t just jewelry, it meant something. I will have to tell you sometime the story about losing it and the panic I felt. Losing the ring felt like a betrayal of my promise and no matter how much I told myself it was just a gold ring I could not stop the panic inside I felt at losing the symbol.

 

So what is the big deal about pledges and what on earth got me thinking about them? Couple of things all piling up as usual. The first was baptism. In the five months we have been here we have had five baptisms and there is no doubt that the string will continue this month. So many Baptisms is a sign, that Grace is a very young congregation and secondly that their heavenly Father is very much in love with them. As Peter notes in the passage above, baptism is God’s pledge of imputed holiness. Imputed? Whoa, big word! Imputed holiness is God’s way of giving me His Holiness through Jesus. That is why it is a pledge of a good conscience. Baptism is what God does to make me acceptable to Him, it brings us together in a very special relationship. I am sealed, marking me as belonging to Him and protected with the Holy Spirit against sin’s contamination. When we struggle with temptation, or guilt, or doubt, or anxiety, or whatever is getting you down lately. It helps to remember God’s pledge to you in baptism. I think that’s why God came up with something like baptism. Baptism is a token, a physical sign of His promise. The token isn’t just a symbol, it is the promise, when the token is remembered, the promise is renewed. Ok, this is getting all dogmatic.

 

Let me explain it this way. Both Ellen and I have for some time now had our own personal way of having God remind us of his love and presence. As a child, Ellen’s grandfather told her that whenever she found a penny on the ground it meant that God was with her. On the penny is printed “In God we Trust”, right? To this day my girl has an uncanny way of finding change on the ground in the most crazy circumstances. And if things are going rugged in our lives she is like a living metal detector. It has been our own private family joke for years. But I can tell you that when the sky is falling and she stoops to pick up a penny, it can get downright hard to breath. I find myself shaking my head and telling our Father, “Ok, we got the message, you are just amazing, really, you are.” By the way, since we have gotten to Grenada, she almost daily finds change on the beach.

 

God’s token to me has been the rainbow. Kind of appropriate since God actually says in Genesis that the rainbow is a token of His promise of mercy. Through some of the most agonizingly difficult times in my life I have walked outside to see a rainbow. In Seattle, the land of rain, we had a lot of rainbows and we needed them. But Grenada rainbows are just breathtaking, double rainbows, rainbows that explode in color where they hit, rainbows in 3d, and rainbows so fluorescent and bold they make you stop and in stunned silence, over sailboats, over jungle mountains, over sparkling waters, and over black thunderheads. Never in my life have I seen a rainbow you could walk through, I have in Grenada. And time after they show up just when I needed a reminder of God’s mercy promise. It is just way too many coincidences to be anything else. Now I am not trying to cheapen baptism by comparing it to pennies or rainbows, but hopefully I got you thinking a bit more about it.

 

It is one of the greatest honors about being a pastor and a missionary, being an insignificant part of a very significant thing God is doing for those who are baptized. It is the start of a very special relationship, not between a man and a woman, but between our Heavenly Father and each precious child. Mind boggling, just mind boggling. And Calisha McIntosh, Larry Williams, Ve’fa Carrington, Shakim Ferguson, and Eloise Bullen, welcome to God’s family!

 

 

“Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”  Ephesians 3:8

 

Oh boy! This is going to be a juicy one! The pastor made a mistake? Isn’t this the most talked about subject at every Christian Sunday afternoon dinner table? It is at mine. So what did he do? Speeding ticket? Did he say the wrong thing in Bible Class? A really bad typo in the bulletin? Did he use a quote again without crediting his source? I know, he missed a hymn completely in the service or he forgot the name of the child he was baptizing. So and so was in the hospital and pastor didn’t have a clue! Why doesn’t pastor go visit that couple that is living together? They were sitting in church again today like everything is ok! Why does he pick such hard to sing hymns, wasn’t that last one just the worst? Have you ever stopped to think that your pastor is aware of all these things and even more about himself?

 

For almost 40 years of my life I played American softball/baseball, many of those years as a player & coach. No more by the way, they only have cricket in Grenada. I remember a big softball tourney a number of years ago. We were in a Championship game and one of our players made a huge mistake and we lost. He was crushed and our teammates were outraged. One of them was screaming at the poor sot insulting everything from his mom to his dog. He turned to me and yelled because I was so quiet, “You’re the coach; tell him he’s a loser!” I stopped and looked him the eye and said in my best quiet Clint Eastwood voice, “He knows, so shut up and let it go.”

 

I thought of that today as I read the daily WELS devotional from this link… www.WhatAboutJesus.com

The writer was focusing on the above passage and I was thinking about my week and how Paul must have felt when he wrote those verses in light of the first half of his life. I found myself asking God why he doesn’t choose a little less flawed messengers or at the very least remake the messengers he picks into the kind that quit acting like losers. I mean, how many people have quit coming to a church because the pastor did or didn’t do such and such? The numbers have to astronomical! Instead God picks David who commits adultery and Peter who denies him when everything is on the line. He picks Sarah who suggests her husband sleep with a servant because she thinks God can’t give her a son, and Mary Magdelene former host to demons. Why does God always pick flawed people?

 

Well, maybe because that is the only kind there is? Maybe it is more honest to pick those that are obviously broken? Maybe because grace is only grace if it is undeserved? Who but God knows? I only know it is very frustrating being a messenger for God and being so pathetically flawed. The mistakes, whatever they are, are embarrassing and humiliating. The fallout from them or the potential fallout from them in my mind are agonizing and tempt me to think dangerously that any of this messenger stuff falls on my own shoulders.

 

Aaagggh, pastor, skip the preaching and tell us what you did this time!!! Sorry, not gonna do it. By the time you read this it will be something else anyway. The point is what we think about God’s messengers when they blow it and what God thinks of us when we do it. Oh, yah, you are one of those messengers as well, whether you deny it or not is irrelevant. So, let’s talk about you, how did you blow it this week? And God still allows you to continue as his messenger? Sigh… me to. So, we grieve our failures and plead forgiveness and pray that God turn the damage we do into the good He desires and promises.

 

I would like to say that one of God’s messengers did really help me this week. Sunday afternoon, during the time when the rest of us were talking about what went wrong, she was calling me asking if I was all right, and telling me that things were ok, and how much she appreciated the good things God did through me. People like that make your eyes leak. I can’t tell you how much those words meant. Interesting that the lady who called was one whom others occasionally question. Perhaps because she knows what it is like, she was quick to encourage. So, I am praying today, that God make me more like her and that He not let me get so wound up in what I am doing wrong that I miss what others are doing right.

 

1:1 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."

When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven…

2:1 I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart."
I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?"

You have to admire Nehemiah and not just because he has a good job, the King’s Cupbearer. Actually, it wasn’t as great a job as it might seem at first because every king has enemies and a good cup bearer tastes everything before the king drinks. This is the kind of job that deserves hazard pay. It also means that he has daily contact with the most powerful man in the world. This is a bit like using dynamite, sometimes it is very helpful and other times it is very terminal. So for Nehemiah, the poison tester, to appeal to the king for a leave of absence to go help friends, well, that takes courage. He is willing to risk his own to help those in need.

 

It takes faith in God to think beyond oneself like that. Oh, I know there are those who are not Christian that are doing good things for others. The world is thankful for them and they do so much good, but even such people have selfish motives. Perhaps they are bored and are looking for excitement or maybe they are trying to salve a guilty conscience. Maybe they are looking for approval from others or rebelling against someone or something. Maybe they want to be someone, to make a difference in the world. Maybe they are searching for fulfillment or belonging. Whatever the case they are helping others at least partially for themselves.

 

It is likely that Nehemiah has some similar motives, he is human after all. But there is also no doubt that Nehemiah is helping others also because he knows it is what God wants him to do. Doesn’t the risk from the king and to himself take on a whole new perspective if you consider Nehemiah is serving God’s will? Perhaps it isn’t Nehemiah’s courage we should admire but his faith.

 

Nehemiah gets his wish, travels far, has the experience of his life, learns a lot about God and his people, goes through some hardship, and returns back home. I was reminded of Nehemiah this week because of a group of students who came here to serve God from Wisconsin Lutheran College. I know, there were not that many similarities, but enough to get me thinking and to appreciate their faith and purpose.

   

 

Each year WLC sends a group of just over a dozen to do humanitarian aid here in Grenada. This year they brought clothing for the needy. They painted homes that hadn’t seen paint in awhile. They repainted our flaking worship center. They visited with the lonely. They taught Sunday School and preached the Word. They sang praises. They played with children and witnessed to our Savior. They experienced a culture very different than their own and learned that although we are different in many ways we can also be brothers and sisters in Christ. They put on an eyeglass clinic that was the rave of the local TV and radio news for at least a week after the event. People are still showing up on our doorstep for glasses. We made many a good connection to our community and gained a reputation as a church that cares.

 

As much as their trip helped us though, I am betting it helped them. Travel and service like that has a way of opening your eyes. A number of them expressed a greater appreciation for what they had and a desire to use their gifts and abilities to further serve God. I would have to admit that I was impressed by the young men and women who came. They are not without flaws, but God is shaping them into amazing tools. It will be very interesting to see what God does with them in the future. Who knows, maybe there is a Godly cupbearer in the group.

 

And WLC crew, thanks gang! It was a pleasure working with you. God willing we will serve together again. God bless you all in your studies and your futures. Oh, and Miss Molly likes swimming with Eels and skipping shells more than shoveling snow and wearing winter coats. And Mic, have you ever been to Memphis?

“When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”  Matthew 2:10-11

On this New Years Day I am sitting shirtless on my front porch listening to Jazz, talking to Jesus, wondering about this coming year and if it could be any stranger than the last one, and writing to you. A year ago I was just released from a three week two surgery stay in a Seattle area hospital. I contracted a deep infection after Rotator Cuff surgery and after the surgery to clean out that infection, my heart stopped for 47 seconds. A week later they had a pace maker installed and ongoing intravenous antibiotics hefty enough to burn out the veins they used to pump it into my system. That a year later I am serving God in a distant land and swimming 200 yards a morning is one of those things like following a star and finding a legend fulfilled; it gives you a lump in your throat and makes your eyes water. It drives you to your mental knees, really. And things like gold and incense and expensive perfume seem pretty trivial compared to what you have been given.

 

Last Sunday I preached on those crazy Magi who visited Jesus so I have been thinking about them a lot. There are so many fascinating characters in the Christmas story, but these guys are so cool. Where did they come from and how did they know? Why did God pick them to come and not someone else? Clearly they were as astonished at what they found as we are. Why give the gifts that they did, gold for a king, incense for a God, and myrrh for burial? What strange gifts for a baby, perfect for a Savior. I love that they left important jobs and came, not completely sure what they would find. I want to be like them. I want be focused on God’s amazing promises and I want to follow His star, not mine, like Herod. I am tired of the vicious grasping world in which we live. I want to talk with angels and take the long way home. I want to marvel at a baby that is so helpless, so human, so like me and the God who wanted it that way.

 

So I am thankful today for generosity, starting with God’s and then moving on to His crazy servants. More than a few of them are bowing to Jesus and placing their gifts in His manger, so to speak, here in Grenada. When Ellen and I first came here more than a few thought we were nuts. Who is going to pay you? Isn’t the Synod closing missions left and right? You will get there and they will send you home! Where will you live? Where will your kids go to school? It costs money to do ministry! Where are you going to worship? World missions are notorious for not being able to support their ministries. What are you thinking?!?!

 

Indeed, what were we thinking? Because I can tell you that this ministry would not be here if not for the wise men and women who were here long before we got here. They came here traveling far, giving of their time, their hearts, and their treasures. They bowed to the baby King and believed in His promise. Some of them were from here and others had never been here. They cared about these people and they could not help but tell others why each New Year is worth living and that one of these years will be the last one. The King will return.

 

The people who started and keep the work here in Grenada going are a mixed bag as God’s people usually are. You would never guess in a 100 years that they would be working together for their Creator. Yet every one of them is uniquely blessed, some in astonishingly extravagant ways by their Lord. It occurred to me that most people who are blessed so extravagantly are not so selfless with what they are given.

 

This week floating in Grand Anse bay just off our porch was a massive sailboat called the “Maltese Falcon”. It is worth $140 million some US dollars and takes millions each year to keep running. The builder wanted to make a statement. He wanted others to be impressed. He wanted to leave a legacy. He did it. Google it, there is an impressive u tube video on it. People stand on the beach and oh and ah. Who wouldn’t want to sail on it? What a tragedy that one day it will be dust and no one will remember the guy who built it.

 

Now contrast that with those who put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Grenada ministry each year. Few know their names, they prefer it that way. No one is looking them up on Google or standing on the beach in awe. But when this world is gone and when we stand side by side before our Maker in heaven, we will rejoice that God allowed us to play a part in His plan and that He gave us the wisdom to know where to go and what gifts to bring. There will be hugs and thanks from Chocolate skinned brothers and sisters who had just enough to get by on earth, but now arrayed in splendor rule by the Savior’s side as kings and queens in heaven forever. Now, THAT is a legacy. You can have the boat, no thanks.

 

Who is going to pay us? How will we survive? Please know that we are abounding! We have everything we need and then some. God’s work here is expensive and we are working on some ambitious plans. And if it is God’s will, it will happen, with God’s help and the ongoing gifts of His magi. We want you to know, modern magi, that although we are bowing together to our Savior, we are throwing a big smile in your direction. Thanks. Have a great New Year, may our legacy continue to honor Him.

PS: The Cherub mini picture at the beginning is my favorite Grandson Luke who continues to do amazingly well!

 

 

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:8-12

 

There is no worship service in all the year as chaotic and delightful in any culture as the Children’s Christmas program. So you can imagine our anticipation and dread as to what would happen with a Grenadian Children’s Christmas service. To be honest we did not put in the work we have in the past on such programs. We are still very much getting a feel for Grenadian traditions and worship style preferences. It is no easy task to lead and yet to follow. Our two week absence from the island just before Christmas did not help either, not enough practice or preparation. We discovered though that most Grenadian kids love to sing, are natural born actors, and love to improvise. Contrast that with the relaxed Grenadian custom of rarely being on time and we had no clue what to expect. It is Grace’s custom to do the Children’s service the Sunday before Christmas, and it was a service to remember.

 

Baby Jesus is, of course, a dark skinned baby doll wrapped in a white blanket and palmed like a basketball as Joseph hands him to Mary. Joseph and Mary are played by older kids as these are positions of honor. The shepherds have their hoods pulled close over their heads and have evidently unruly cardboard and cotton sheep because they require regular smackings with their staves. Still, when it is time for their part their eyes are beaming and their voices blustering. Never in 40 some years of watching and participating in this tradition have I seen an angel appear to the shepherds jumping out of his seat, arms spread wide and trumpeting a joyous “Yo” as if he were greeting friends from a distance on the street. The worshippers loved it. The angels sang like angels and the guests in our audience heard again the greatest surprise of all, how God rescued his broken world by becoming a little baby born in a stable.

 

No matter how many times you hear that, if you think about it, it is still just astonishing, isn’t it? In fact the more you look at how God carried out his plan to save the world and how the story unfolded I think you would be hard pressed to come up with a more surprising scenario. The Creator in a teenage womb? The step father a carpenter? A census at the worst time? Angels appearing to shepherds while Governors and Emperors are left in the dark? Foreign wise men following a stationary star? It is no wonder God has so many skeptics. It takes faith to believe such stuff, otherwise it makes no sense. And maybe that is why God loves surprises so much. It takes faith to believe them and God wants people to believe in Him. 

 

Personally, I think that the better you are at living with surprises the better you are at following God. I have not always been so good with surprises. God is making me better. It's one of the reasons why He sent us to Grenada. You have to work with surprises to work outside your own culture and comfort zone.

 

Talking about babies and surprises, God continues to hold grandson Luke in His powerful hands. As you can see there is much improvement in the last week. Luke is now getting his milk straight from Mom and not a bottle. He loves to snuggle seems to be wanting to make up for all the time in the beginning he did not get to do that with his parents. He is even sleeping on his back now! Joe and Amanda are doing wonderful jobs adapting to being parents. Talk about a challenge that is full of all kinds of surprises! Hah!

 

May you and your family have a blessed CHRISTmas!

“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:20

 “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him…” When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Matthew 2:13

 

“Your baby has Spina Bifida, the worst kind…. It is very likely he will be paralyzed…. In most cases like this there is brain damage…. I would suggest that you terminate your pregnancy.” Those were the words of a doctor to our son Joe and his wife Amanda eight months ago. It is impossible to describe the emotions that rip you apart when you get news like that; tears, denial, outrage, all kinds of grief. News like that has a way of dramatically changing your prayer life and your whole life.

 

Yesterday I held baby Luke for the second time. He is a miracle, no other way to say it. Yes, he was born with a gaping hole in his lower back exposing his spine. Yes, he had fluid build up in his head. Yes, he needed two surgeries within a week after a c-section brought him into the world. Yes, he was in ICU for over a week hooked up to so many tubes and monitors you couldn’t find his hands and feet. Makes no difference, God trumped the odds.

 

As of last night Luke is moving all arms and legs perfectly normally! He lifts his head and responds to your voice. He loves to grunt. He drinks mom’s milk from a bottle voraciously. In fact sometimes he gets so excited about eating he forgets to breathe! All the plumbing works dramatically, very unusual for his condition. (I wonder how long we will be cheering the efficiency of his plumbing.) He no longer needs oxygen, painkillers, or IV. Goodbye ICU! And best of all he is a baptized child of God. He is so delightful and has such a little personality that he had his grandma and grandpa in tears last night as we said goodbye for at least a year.

 

Someone recently asked me what the hardest part about going to serve God in Grenada was. I can answer that easily. It has been the same answer our entire ministry. The hardest part is being so far away from family. Our boys grew up visiting with their grandparents every other year. They will tell you they missed that and so did we. You miss the wisdom of your parents when you are raising a family and you miss the daily support that only grandparents can give. You miss your brothers and sister and you find yourself growing distant from them in spite of the love you have for them. You miss old friends and the closeness you once had. The computer and Skype have helped things in this area. But I think this is why so many missionaries who come back urge us not to forget those who serve far from home. Don’t just pray for them, tell them you care and especially their wives and family.

 

Finally, I want to stop, right here and praise our Heavenly Father. It was his right to give us a broken grandson. And it is his right to heal him. The verdict is still out on Luke’s story. It is impossible to tell how far his positive condition will go as he ages. But for now God appears to have pulled another miracle from a total disaster. It disturbs me to the core that there are still men out there trying to take God’s right to give life and take it away. What an utter tragedy it would have been to end Amanda’s pregnancy. And God bless her for her fury at the doctor who would suggest such a thing. Bless God for showing us again that He calls the shots no matter what the odds.

 

Personally, I think Jesus has a special heart for helpless and hurting babies. He has been there and done that, as they say. That is why we are celebrating “Chreestmas” (Grenadian dialect). God had enough of broken babies and men trying to play God. So he became one himself to take their place, to take our pain, and give us his perfection. Jesus came for Luke, was thinking of Luke, just as He was thinking of you and still is. So, Merry Christmas, Luke, and goodbye for now. We will miss you sooooo much. We know you are in good hands. Your parents are wonderful and your brother, Jesus, knows your every breath and paid for each one.

 

PS: We are safe and warm again in Grenada. Thanks Greg and Beth for a home away from home. Pastor Fred and Pam are the best! It was so good to see so many old friends. Pray that our household shipment gets to Grenada, West Indies and not Grenada, Spain. Merry CHRISTmas!!!!!

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”

Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Who do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Genesis 32:22-31

 

When Ellen and I first moved to Seattle we took a long route to visit several old friends and to see the place where I grew up. I had been gone from North Platte, NE for 16 years, through high school, college, and the seminary. I wanted to show my new wife one of the places that shaped me. I was curious if it had changed. I was stunned. Nothing was the way I remembered. It was so much smaller, so very different. The memories that flashed through my brain collided with what I saw. It was not that the town had changed. In many ways it was still frozen back in the 1970s, the same houses, the same streets, even the trees we climbed. But I was no longer the boy who left. A flood of life experiences had forever changed the way I saw things. The town was the same, I was different.

 

I am feeling that way again this week. Ellen and I are back in Seattle for the birth of our first Grandson and the final preparations to ship what remains of our possessions to Grenada. We only left Seattle in August but it seems like we have been gone much longer. Although we lived there 22 years somehow everything seems different. It is not that Seattle has changed as much as we have. We flew out of bright 90 degree Caribbean morning through Miami into freezing snowy Chicago. I was immediately reminded of my island youth group who asked me what snow was like. They had seen it on TV, but still stared wide eyed as I tried to describe it for them. I think that about half of Grenadians have never been out of their country. Almost all of them dream of visiting the places they see on TV.

 

Our son Joe and very pregnant wife Amanda met us at the airport very excited to see us and get on with the process of making us grandparents for the first time. Amanda was scheduled for a C section (why do they call it that, anyway?) the next morning, but the surgery was delayed because there was no room at the inn (hospital). Mom and baby Luke are fine, more on that in the next blog. We are staying with good friends Greg and Beth Braun who were some of our very first members at our former church in Everett. Thanks guys, friends like you are a safe harbor in a storm.

 

We immediately began a process all ex patriots do when they return and that is buying things you can’t get where you live. We are also buying Christmas presents and countless other things that our friends in Grenada asked us to get them, things like medicine, volleyball knee pads, metronomes, and silk flowers. We are also going through the long process of repacking our household belongings for a final shipment. One of the smartest things our people did was to suggest that we live on the island for three months before we do our final shipment. We had no idea of what we would need and want and in hind sight we would have sent all kinds of things we would have never used and spent a lot of time wishing we had other things we would have left out.

 

So we are driving to stores that are familiar, but different. We are meeting with old friends whom we see now from a totally different perspective. We are shivering in our long Johns and lathering on lotion to keep our skin from drying out. We are striving to drive on the right side of the road and not the left, never dreaming that we would ever feel out of place driving in our homeland. We are worshipping among our old spiritual family who are thrilled to see us, but are very much enjoying their new shepherd.

 

Thinking of all this got me thinking about Jacob going home after being gone from his father Isaac and brother Esau for so long. It was not an easy return, mistakes had been made, the kind that leave deep scars. There was uncertainty. How would he be received? Would there be a fight? Would the father who favored his brother and from whom he ran finally accept him? Would his family be accepted? Would he be respected for who he had become? The boy, who needed a dream of angels coming and going on his way out of town, now has totally different view of his own competence and God’s role in His life. He understands as he returns that He desperately needs his Heavenly Father and without Him, he is nothing, can accomplish nothing. He wrestles with God through the night.

 

My friend and associate Dei likes Jacob, because he admires Jacob’s persistence in prayer under troubling circumstances. Jacob has learned the hard way to trust in the Lord and not himself. I don’t know about you, but I need regular reminders of things like that. Interesting that God changed Jacob’s name that night to Israel. What an interesting way of telling him that all his previous experiences had changed him and that nothing would ever be the same again. I wonder what God would change my name to? Probably Buford or Zacheus or something like that, hah! Have a great Advent. Come, Lord Jesus! Come!

 

                         

To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD. And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Jonah 2:6-10

 

This has to be one of the most bizarre passages in the entire Bible and not just because it is one of the few passages that come up when you do a word search on the word “vomit”. (Some of us will always be little boys snickering at such things.) So, why is it weird then? Well picture this. Here is this missionary running from God because God wants him to preach the gospel to this foreign nation who he thinks deserves lightning bolts not forgiveness. Jonah is angry because he knows that if he preaches, there is a good chance God will change their hearts and forgive them. Jonah thinks they deserve judgment (like any of us don’t?) So Jonah runs, and God follows. Days later, far out to sea, God has an intervention with Jonah in a storm that threatens to destroy Jonah and all with him. As everyone knows Jonah is thrown into the stormy sea (which suddenly calms) and is swallowed by a giant fish who takes a good crack at digesting him for three days. Now I can’t imagine what I would think rotting in a fish’s gut for three days in the depths of the sea, but I have this funny feeling that a song of thanksgiving is not going to be on my agenda.

 

It is funny, isn’t it, where thanksgiving sometimes shows up? Why is it in history that in times of depression and war God’s people rally in thanksgiving more than any other time? Does that make any sense? Today the world is collapsing in economic freefall and war, piracy, and terrorism is tearing nations apart. Yet God’s people turn to him in thanksgiving very much like Jonah, why? Perhaps in such times all the things that seem so important in normal times (worthless idols) suddenly seem rather insignificant when tragedy is all around us. Suddenly it is just me and my maker and the raw truth of who and why I am, who my Father is, and why he cares. When I am all alone and there is nothing else left in my heart, my Savior moves in and with him comes peace and calm and fear and resentment melt before him. Comfort fills me and hope is reborn. And suddenly, crazy as it is, I am singing praise and songs of thanks. Aren’t God’s people nuts?

 

Isn’t God a little nuts? Just let the fish eat the angry, resentful, discouraged missionary and be done with it! Not God, he won’t let him go and He won’t let him die in misery. He picks him up from a pile of vomit on the beach and puts him on a soap box in the middle of an intimidating city of millions of hostile foreigners with a message of warning and an offer of grace on his lips. AND THEY LISTEN!!! From the smallest to the greatest they turn to God in grief for mercy. Jonah gets every missionary’s wish, they all listen! God forgives them all and welcomes them into his family. The crazy thing is that Jonah knew God would do this and was angry about it. What an amazing, gracious God we have! No wonder Jonah was singing songs of thanksgiving.

 

So, here I am on the beach in a strange land, singing songs of thanksgiving, on what is undoubtedly the most bizarre thanksgiving I have ever experienced. It is not a holiday here in Grenada. The kids are in school and the vendors hawk their wares to the latest crop of tourists. There is no church today, there is no turkey, and there is no football. But there is more thankfulness than ever before. Because we are far away in a foreign intimidating land, yet God finds us wherever we are, and he uses us to display His grace and power in new astonishing ways. Guess I am looking at Jonah now days in a whole different way.

 

So, what is going on here? This week I added three new guitar students. I now have four, two of them members, Daniel Sylvester and Marlin Coutain. The next couple weeks Ellen and I will be gone back to the states for the birth of our first grandchild, Luke. One day, God please, we will have musicians that can step in and lead worship, even when Ellen and I are on furlough. Music is becoming a great way to get to know other talented people on the island. One young man saw a guitar in the back of our car and told me he was taking lessons and asked if I had music for several Christian songs. This has led to a fun jam session and who knows what in the future. God please, we may not only be training new musicians but recruiting them.

 

I got an offer to bring a group to sing and play at a local restaurant. I told the owner we would sing about Jesus, was that ok? He asked, “It’s music isn’t it?” Oh, yes, it is music alright. When I asked my new friend Patrick if he would join us singing about Jesus in a restaurant he answered with this gleam in his eye, “It is my dream.” I think early in the New Year we will have to check this restaurant out. (My wife is asking why I am smiling, hah!)

 

Both Ellen and Jake are doing really good at making friends. Jake has gotten involved with a volleyball club that is preparing for an inter island tournament. He practices several nights a week under the lights. It is too hot during the day. He is making good friends and some of them have even been in church. Ellen has a knack for meeting people and visiting with them. Seems like every week she is going out for coffee with someone. This week she went out with a neurological psychologist on the SGU staff. I was kidding her that was one friend she should hang out with more often. Ohhhh, I am in sooo much trouble. Maybe I will need to catch that next boat for Tarshish yet!

 

 

 

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” Exodus 2:11-14

 

Before I get started on a fairly heavy topic today I have to pass on some good news. Cherill is out of the hospital and doing much better. She got all her dialysis treatments last week, thanks to your generous gifts! She continues her need for treatment for her diabetes and kidney failure, but she is so relieved to be home. On top of that there is a group from Wisconsin Lutheran College coming in January to do some humanitarian aid and Cherill’s is one of the homes we are planning to do some work on. Thanks for your prayers. God is listening.

 

Secondly, and this not such good news, we are out of water again, the third time this week. And on Sunday we had no power again. We are laughing at those who told us that, now days you hardly ever go without power or water. Still, we have been getting a ton of rain to collect water and the heat has backed off to 80 or 90 degrees and we are much more comfortable. Watching the US news and people with coats on is very amusing. Although the economic situation at home is not amusing at all and we are praying for you.

 
This week I have been thinking about race issues and how past history scars just don’t seem to go away. A white pastor can’t blog about Grenada without talking eventually about race issues, at least if he has any guts. 80% of the people on our island are of African descent or mixed African descent. It is about the same percentage in our congregation. Now I grew up playing with kids of African descent and it is not the first time I have served a congregation as a minority. My senior year at the Seminary I served as an emergency pastor at St Philips in the inner city of Milwaukee. I learned so much that year and most of the people were so gracious and remained friend’s years after we left. It was hardly enough time to be an expert on race, nor is three months in Grenada.

 

But there are things about race in Grenada that bother me. Africans are not native to Grenada. Helping Sam with his Caribbean history class has taught me that the natives were mostly killed off by the Europeans who wanted their land and muscle. The real source of wealth in the Caribbean was not the gold they were looking for but the sugar cane they could grow. You need large amounts of cheap labor to raise sugar cane and Europeans found it in slaves imported from Africa to work on large estates. In a very short time the ratio of color on the islands was 10 to 1, black to white. The whites controlled the money and often abused and mistreated their slaves. Tragically, many Africans at the time captured and sold their fellow Africans to slave traders. All this happened several hundred years ago. But I think the resentment and some of the attitudes still remain generations later, perhaps learned from the behavior of parents and generations before them.

 

Grenadians tend to see white people as rich and much of the time they are. Beggars are far more likely to come to a white person, doesn’t matter how you are dressed. Several of them have actually called me “boss”, maybe thinking that would butter me up? Every time this happens I express my extreme discomfort with this, but I wonder if this doesn’t appeal to some white people as they keep on doing it. There is no doubt that generations of racial tension have effected negatively men with pale skin as much as men with brown skin.

 

Grenadian people are for the most part deeply Christian but they do not cherish marriage as you would think. Some of them say this is left over from days when they were not allowed to marry as slaves. Grenadians are super friendly and polite, but they tend to guard what they really think and who they are deep inside. They give trust slowly. They are deeply religious but highly superstitious. They love music and they have an amazing camaraderie among their own. They look out for each other. But you can tell that many of them, especially of the men are harboring deep resentment for others and are quick to exploit others when they can.

 

It is not fair that some of this resentment for strangers is occasionally focused on me, but I can understand it. I think I might feel the same in their position. Yet, I find myself feeling a little like Moses in the verses above. I want to be their brother and their pastor and for many that is what I am or am becoming. But for some I was raised differently and will always be different. Some Jews never did accept Moses’ leadership, even after God did impressive things through him.

 

It makes me sad that the sin of past generations leave such scars on their children. I think that is why God told Moses, “(I am), the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:3) It makes me long for the day in heaven when only one race will matter, the human one.