Daily Bible Reading Jul/Aug 2009
Bible Reading 2009 July-August
Jun
29
Jun
25
Summertime!!
It seems as though the warm weather came a little quicker this year. I was seeking a place in the shade the other day when I decided the best place was on the inside in the cool air-conditioning. It wasn’t always that way. Like many of you, I was brought up in a time when we had no air-conditioning. I remember walking by stores and seeing a sign that said “Cool Inside.” We had a large window fan that was in the kitchen window and that served as the only way we had to cool our home. Guess what? I don’t remember being hot and uncomfortable. I played outside all day and just didn’t seem to notice that it was hot on the inside. NOW, let the central unit go on the blink for an hour and I find myself complaining. When Elaine and I bought our first car, we thought that air-conditioning was too much of a luxury to afford. Now, we hardly go anywhere with the windows down, we have to have our AC.
I thought about this and asked myself what makes the difference? Is it global warming and it is simply hotter than it use to be? Am I simply getting older and not able to adjust to the extremes of weather like I once did? NO—I can’t be getting that much older!!
I think the answer is that I have simply grown accustomed to have the cool air-conditioning in the summer and the warm heat in the winner. ACCUSTOMED!! Have you and I ever grown accustomed to things? I mean things that maybe we should avoid all together. I ask myself and hopefully you will do the same; have I grown accustomed to the things that are happening in our world and it no longer bothers or affects me. What about TV shows that once would never have been allowed in the home? What about not showing up for Sunday night worship or Wednesday night Bible classes? What about the way we allow our teens to dress? What about the language we use, that possibly our parents threatened to use a bar of soap on our mouth if we used words like ….? In a recent lesson I taught from Hosea, I ran across one of those verses that leaped off the page at me, “Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord.” (Hosea 5:4) It appears that the Israelites had grown accustomed to not following the ways of the Lord. They turned further and further and it was as though they could not go back. I trust that as you and I go through life, that we will allow that “alarm clock” (counselors call it a conscience) to go off so that we will not grow ACCUSTOMED to the ways of the world.
Prayer Thought: Lord help me daily to stay away from the ways of the world.
Jun
25
Jun
23
Bogota June Report
Bogota June 14 2009
Thanks to God all is donig well here in Colombia, we are growing in faith and in number.
There are new brothers and there is new leaders.
the church in Bogota is growing good.
This week I am in Barranquia with the missionary team here. This week we have 7 new Christians in the north of Colombia.
Please pray about:
1. our new brothers and sisters.
2. about Samuel Diaz plans.
3. about Colombian government, the civil war
4.The mission team here.
5. the building for the church in Bogota, we need one.
God blessings you always
Samuel
Jun
23
Jun
23
Jun
23
Jun
23
Water in Los Colorados!
April is the hottest and driest month of the year. It’s also the end of the dry season. Daily temperatures in Choluteca will top 100 degrees. Since it is the driest month of the year it’s a great time to drill a well. If you can find water in the driest month of the year you can be sure that you’ll have a good well for many years to come.
Last month we drilled a well in the village of Los Colorados. Los Colorados is a new church that was actually planted by the church in Limon (Ciudad Nueva). The village of Los Colorados was established 10 years ago after hurricane Mitch. Since these 100 families were relocated there they have not had access to water and what water they have been able to access has not been clean. Alberto Vallejos the local preacher worked hard to help the community get organized. We agreed to drill the well on the church property and put in the distribution system if the community would donate the labor for digging all of the ditches. At 427 feet we finally hit a strong vein of water, 70 gallons per minute strong.
Last month a number of new construction projects were begun including a building in village of Santa Anita, retention wall for the church in Namasigue, and classrooms at the church in Duyure. We also finished a number of projects. A new house for a needy family from the church in San Marcos was finished just in time to have a dry house for the rainy season. The “Wellness Center” at the Mission Lazarus Refuge was also finished. This clinic will serve all of the kids of the children’s home as well as the villages on the surrounding mountains.
In February we planted nearly 25,000 tomato plants. The harvest from these plants will help offset the cost of operating the Mission Lazarus Refuge. By April the plants were loaded with blooms and small green tomatoes. We plan to harvest tomatoes at the end of May.
Our two sewing schools are up and running and making a difference in the lives of many ladies. Most of the ladies who attend these schools do not have skills that will help them provide for their families. These schools teach them a valuable trade and are a testament to how the church cares for the communities they serve.
Every month all of the preachers we work with come together for breakfast, work meeting, and time to share stories, difficulties, and pray together. In April we all met in Namasigue. The meeting was a great time for all the guys to share and be filled up by their peers who know and understand the stresses of ministry. Their labors are showing fruit. In the first four months of this year there were 91 baptisms at the congregations that Mission Lazarus works with. God has truly blessed the efforts of the hard working men and women who spend countless hours spreading God’s word in their villages.
Lastly, we had a great time playing with all of the kids from the Mission Lazarus Refuge at our house. A stream runs in front of our house so a day was spent playing in the water, eating hotdogs, and enjoying the sounds of kids having fun. The kids from the home go on a field trip every month and we always look forward to the annual trip to our house.
May will mark the beginning of the rainy season as well as the beginning of the summer group rush. We look forward to the encouragement that the summer groups bring to our American team as well as to the local Christians.
Jarrod W. Brown
Mission Lazarus Inc.
Apartado Postal 79
Choluteca, Honduras
www.missionlazarus.org
www.missionlazarus.blogspot.com
Office Tel. 011.504.788.2751
Cell Tel. 011.504.9970.5906
US Fax 503.905.0920
Jun
23
Jun
23