First of Three - Aracruz, Espirito Santo

Hello once again from Rio de Janeiro. I wanted to give those of you who are praying for us a quick update on my trip to Aracruz, Espirito Santo.

A couple of months ago, Pr. Luciano (pastor of the First Baptist Church of Aracruz, Espirito Santo) asked Sharon and I to consider speaking at their first ever Semana Santa (Holy Week) retreat. I began creating, editing, refining and more refining a series of talks and PowerPoints for this event. Pr. Luciano gave broad strokes for guidelines. He wanted me to talk to the married couples about healthy marriages, utilizing some of the materials from Celebrate Recovery and to "preach" a couple of times.

Sharon was originally supposed to present a series of talks to the Young Adults, but this was later changed to working with the children. For those of you who know Sharon, you know that she has a gift with kids. However, for that past 6 weeks to two months, she has had some inflammation in her neck, been to two doctors (colleagues with each other), a couple of x-rays an MRI, they gave her two different sets of antibiotics. Needless to say, Sharon had to cancel her participation in this event. An update on her, no, she still is not completely better. We've contacted the ENT of this doctor team and he is out of town until after this week (we're in the midst of two holidays back to back, Tuesday and Thursday).

Back to the retreat. When I got there it was a great event. I spoke with all of the participants Friday evening (173 people), around 20/25 couples for two workshops (Saturday and Sunday mornings) and then to around 700 for the church's evening worship. There were several who gave indications of wanting to receive Christ into their lives and many rededications.

Thanks for your prayers. Please continue to pray for Sharon's health.

One thing is for certain - Change Always Happens

It's been almost two weeks since my last post. Since that time there have been a lot of things that have occurred. In just the past week, we were informed of friends who's daughter has a baby in the Neonatal ICU because she was born over two months premature, another friend has been diagnosed with "Clear Cell Epithelial Ovarian Cancer", our son Wesley returned the States to return to college (KU-Lawrence), I had a special meeting with Pr. Davi (co-pastor), Joana D'Arc (psychologist), and Luis (layman) all from the First Baptist Church of Vista Alegre (São Gonçalo-Rio de Janeiro) about their intentions to begin Celebrando a Recuperação (Celebrate Recovery) in their church this coming Friday, and our colleagues Guy and Elena Key, my wife Sharon, our daughters Willa-Ann and Priscila and I met the Lambach family as they returned to Brazil after going to the States to have a funeral service for Elaine (see previous posts).

Change is inevitable. Whether we like it, or not, it's going to happen. As much as I wish that things (life) could remain the same, that's just not reality. Not only is that not reality, it's also not healthy. Think about it, as cute as a baby is (I know, we've had four of them and ALL of them have been the most beautiful creations in all the world), the precious time that we have with our children, watching them grow, all of the "firsts", as great and wonderful as that is, I don't think that any of us would really want our children to stay forever a baby, a toddler, a child, an adolescent, and so on. In reality Sharon and I are looking forward to the day when our children marry and have children. We're looking forward to the day that we can spoil the grandkids and send them home. All of that having been said (or typed), there is yet still a part of me that wants some things to stay the same.

One of the things that I do as a missionary here in Brazil is teach churches how to do Celebrate Recovery (see the link on this page). When invited to train one of these churches, one of the key phases that I teach is this, "We live by two rules of thumbs; (1) there is a God, and (2) I am not Him." Over this past week, several things have happened that if I had the power to change, I would have. But, guess what? There is a God and Jeff isn't Him (and aren't we ALL grateful for that)! I trust God completely! That being said, I also trust Him that He knows what He's doing, that He's still on the throne and still in control. In 1 Corinthians 13:12, the Apostle Paul writes; "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. ". (NASB) I trust God that even when things don't go as I think that they ought to go, He still knows what's best.

I remember when I was first in recovery. I was very ignorant and in denial of the severity of my chemical dependency. Although I admitted that I had had a problem with alcohol and drugs, in my denial I was convinced that I was not like "those" people. I was working at a psychiatric hospital and a co-worker who had lost my copy of the "Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book" had bought me a new one. On the inside cover she encouraged me to read page 449. That page has helped a lot over the years, especially when I find myself not content with my reality and I find myself complaining to God for the way He's letting life happen. The page reads like this:

"And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation – some fact of my life – unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes."

Alcoholics Anonymous 3rd. Ed., 1976, Alcoholic Anonymous World Services, Inc., (page 449)

I totally recognize that the AA Big Book is not the Bible, not even close! I also recognize that there are a lot of people who are in our circle of friends and contacts that suffer from the "if only this" or "if only that", or the "I should have . . .", "I would have . . .", or the "I could have . . ." of life. My prayer for me and for all of us is that when we experience life, both in it's good and it's bad, that we accept it for what it is, a precious gift from God. One that is neither earned or deserved, but daily given to us as a present of God's grace.