Wordly Riches or God's Riches?

I am reading the book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ronald J. Sider. The more I read it, the more God opens my eyes to a biblical perspective of wealth and abundance. As I read it, God convicts me of some of our cultural attitudes that do not bring him glory and helps to teach me to see money and possessions from his perspective. After reading this small quote on possessions I hope that you too will begin to take an honest look at your own attitudes about wealth and possessions, while seeking God’s opinion.

An abundance of possessions can easily lead us to forget that God is the source of all good. We trust in ourselves and our wealth rather than in the Almighty. When we focus on ourselves, we forget no only God but also the people he created. In our self-absorptions, we are fooled by the pleasure of possessing.
Most Christians in the Northern Hemisphere simply do not believe Jesus’ teaching about the deadly danger of possessions. Jesus warned that possessions are highly dangerous-so dangerous, in fact, that it is extremely difficult for a rich person to be a Christian at all: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:25 NRSV). Christians in the United States live in one of the richest societies in the history of the world, surrounded by a billion desperately needy neighbors and another two billion who are poor. We are far more interested in whether the economy grows than in whether the lot of the poor improves. We insist on more and more, and reason that if Jesus was son un-American that he considered riches dangerous, then we must ignore or reinterpret his message.
Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger p.93

Always learning...

Braulio working

As I think more and more about making Braulio's reality and mine into one, there is so much I realize we may never come to understand about the other. I realize that I chose this life here, he does not. It is the only life he has ever known. I cannot wait someday to share with him the other part of my life (in the US) so that we may be able to chose together! Henri Nouwen's words once again more articulately convay the truth of living here...

The winds cover everything with thick layers of dust; water has to be hauled up in buckets from below and boiled to be drinkable; there is seldom a moment of privacy, with kids walking in and out all the time, and the thousands of loud sounds make silence a faraway dream. I love living here, but I am also glad that I can escape it for two hours a day and for one day a week. Living here not only makes me aware that I have never been poor, but also that my whole way of being, thinking, feeling, and acting is molded by a culture radically different from the one I live in now. I am surrounded by so many safety systems that I would not be allowed to become truly poor. If I were to become seriously ill, I would be sent back to the United States and given the best possible treatment. As soon as my life or health were really threatened, I would have many people around me willing to protect me.
At the moment, I feel that a certain realism is necessary. I am not poor as my neighbors are. I will never be and will not ever be allowed to be by those who sent me here. I have to accept my own history and live out my vocation, without denying that history. On the other hand, I realize that the way of Christ is a self-emptying way. What that precisely means in my own concrete life will probably remain a lifelong question.
Henri Nouwen, Gracias, Wednesday January 20

Unfortuanetly, we did not make it to Haiti. It's a long story, but we're back here in Jarabacoa safe and sound. Thanks for all your prayers. Here is a small story of the first day of travel.

We left Jarabacoa at 7am. We got to Santo Domingo at 9:30. It took us an hour to buy our tickets because of course they don't take plastic - only cash (I should've known). Then the only ATM in the bus terminal was broken so I had to walk blocks away to find one where I realized that I had no access to my money because I had to destroy my debit card after the identity theft I experienced last week. Thankfully I am an American (how often do I really say that in this country?) with all it's privleges - yay for cash advance.

Then when I returned I was told I had to pay part of it in dollars (no they couldn't just multiply and charge me in pesos) so I had to go find somewhere to change money. Whey would I have dollars when I live in the Dominican Republic? I don't know! Finally we made it on the bus.

Wow, what a bus! The seats converted into mini beds and they gave us lunch, soda & candy! I thought "wow, this is better than an airplane; at least there was more leg room!" I thought this for an hour then the bus broke down. We were broken down on the side of the road for an hour and half, until they sent us a new bus. So late, but not stuck they sent us another bus.

We finally got the the border and because of improper papers for Braulio we weren't able to cross into Haiti. After 12 hours of travel we were less than an hour away from my Dad, Karla and our church friends. It was definatly dissappointing. I thought "Why, God?" "What is the lesson in all this?" So we spent the night in a hotel in Jimani, the border town and prepared for the 10 hour treck back to Jarabacoa yesterday.

We arrived in the evening, tired but good. We are still praying about what is the lesson in all this...

Life as a Missionary

Henri Nouwen says much more accurately what I think, feel & experience...

It is far from easy to be a missioner. One has to live in a different culture, speak a different language, and get used to a different climate, all at great distances from those patterns of life which fit most comfortably. It is not surprising that, for many missioners, life is full of tension, frustration, confusion, anxiety, alienation, and loneliness.

Why do people become missioners? Why do they leave what is familiar and known to live in a milieu that is unfamiliar and unknown? This question has no simple answer. A desire to serve Christ unconditionally, an urge to help the poor, an intellectual interest in another culture, the attraction of adventure, a need to break away from family, a critical insight into the predicament of one’s own country, a search for self-affirmation – all these and many other motives can be part of the making of a missioner. Long and arduous formation offers the opportunity for re-alignment and purification of these motives. A sincere desire to work in the service of Jesus Christ and his kingdom should become increasingly central in the mind and heart of a future missioner, although nobody can be expected to be totally altruistic. Seldom do we come in touch with our hidden drives only after long and hard work in the field. Preparatory formation and training cannot do everything. The issue is not to have perfectly motivated missioners, but missioners who are willing to be purified again and again as they struggle to find their true vocation in life.

The great challenge, however, is to live and work out of gratitude. The lord took on our guilt and saved us. In him the Divine work has been accomplished. The human missionary task is to give visibility to the Divine work in the midst of our daily existence. When we can come to realize that our guild has been taken away and that only God saves, then we are free to serve, then we can live truly humble lives. Clinging to guilt is resisting God’s grace, wanting to be a savior, competing with God’s own being. Both are forms of idolatry and make missionary work very hard and eventually impossible.

Humility is the real Christian virtue. It means staying close to the ground (humus), to people, to everyday life, to what is happening with all its down-to-earthiness. It is the virtue that opens our eyes for the presence of God on the earth and allows us to live grateful lives. The poor themselves are the first to help us recognize true humility and gratitude. They can make a receptive missioner a truly happy person.
Henri Nouwen, Gracias, Friday March 5

Chocolate Party

On Saturday a bunch of us got together to have a chocolate party. Now for those of you who know me, you're probably thinking this sounds like torture for Tara (I highly dispise chocolate), but... it was really fun. Pachi brought some ice cream that was half vanilla, so I did get to enjoy some sweets. It was such a good time of community that I was reminded of how thankful I am that God would give me such wonderful community to serve with.