I have had a great and relaxing week. The heat here is making it hard to accomplish any really big projects or tackle any really big jobs, but I think that we are all making it alright. Today was especially hot though... oh well! I suppose if it was cold I would be complaining the opposite. I just have to take everything with a grain of salt -- or something like that ;^)! Through it all God is good!
In this past week I have, among other things, been taking the opportunity of practicing on my neglected and dusty clarinet. My Mom gave me the clarinet on my 10th birthday, but I haven't really applied myself to it until now. It's a hard instrument to learn because it sounds so horrible when you don't do it right that you can only practice when everyone who has to share the house with you is okay with your doing so! Still, I have a fairly gracious set of "house-mates"... they put up with a lot more than most! lol So far I can play a total of three songs on the clarinet -- all old hymns -- not too long and I will be playing on Sunday mornings on the worship team *winks*. :^D
Today my Dad went to town to buy materials to start construction on a new portion of our house. This time it's going to be our -- Evie's and Mine -- room! Right now we only have enough to build the walls, but soon we are hoping to be able to put a roof on as well. It's so exciting!! I am already busy planning how I am going to arrange to our room... hmmm... lol!
It's funny how God works and uses all these hard situations to cause you to grow -- kind of random of me, I know, but when I write I tend to write exactly what comes into my mind as I am writing.
My Dad and I were talking the other day and somehow we ended up talking about our comfort zones and how a lot of the time, as Americans, we are accostomed to more than most Mexicans and a lot of times tend to complain more when we are deprived of our comforts.
Talking about this lead us to talk about how everyone is at a different level in their comfort zone. For example, I might say "I went three days without food so that we could complete the outreach we were doing", whereas a Christian in a country such as Africa might think of that sacrifice as nothing. Sometimes we -- I should make this more trasparent and say "I"-- forget about all the other Christians around the world and get too involved in what is going on my life -- the things that I am dealing with or the sacrifices I am making -- to be able to remember that less than twenty out of every hundred people in the world have electricity; to remember that 1.1 billion people in this world don't have clean to drink; to remember that even in my hardship I am blessed.
It's so easy to aknowledge that when you are seated in the church pew... but when you are lying awake tossing and turning in the heat because the electricity has gone out... then it gets hard to remember.
Still, looking at the Bible I have to see that God never warns us to be careful in hardship (Romans 5:3-4); it's when we have plenty. When we are "well-off", that's when the Bible tells us the be careful. It's not that riches are bad in themselves, it's that, if one is not careful, riches can cause one to stumble and sin (Psalm 49; Mark 10 Rich Young Ruler). Just a challenge for anyone willing to give an ear. Sure is challenging me!
---TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN---
We are officially planning to be in the States August 20th thru September 10th -- I am not 100 percent sure about that second date, but the first is right. We will be traveling up to the LA area but probably not any farther. If any of you want to plan a roadtrip down to see us... well, you have an opportunity!! ;^D
Blessings to you all!
Hello faithful fellow-blogger! :D Glad you're doign ok!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you could play the clarinet!? Rebekah (here in CA) also plays the clarinet and her twin sis Amanda plays the flute, so they play for church sometimes.
Wow! New room! That's exciting! You'll have to take pix once it's all finished.
I liked reading your thoughts. They were very good! I thought it was interesting how you pointed out that God doesn't warn us to be careful in the hard times as He does in the times when we have a lot! Never really thought about it like that!
That would be so fun if we could at least see you once when you guys come up here but I don't know how that would work out .... unless like, Nastya and I got up early sometime and drove down....we'd almost have to stay overnight though 'cause the drive to LA is so far! Several hours for us. Hmmm....we shall see. Will have to pray about it and maybe if it's God's will, He'll work something out! Hopefully we'll be able to come visit you in Mexico sometime! That would be fun! :-)
All for now! Have a good week! :D ((HUGS))