We live nine hours from the Atlantic Ocean. We stopped there for two days on our way home from Belem last week.

We just took a couple of days off after a long, strenuous run of events. When we got to the hotel here was this iguana, just outside our window, a perfect picture of how we all felt. We decided to do what he was doing, and just rest awhile.

I used to have one long-term goal in life, to hear God say, “Well done good and faithful servant” at the end of time.

I realize I now have a mid-term goal as well. I want to become the kind of person when I am old that exudes godliness. Maybe this is what Paul is referring to in 1 Cor 4:15, “Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.” Maybe guardians have all the right answers, and they know how to tell others how to keep the rules. Fathers, on the other hand, are just the right people.

Jesus and Paul explain how we are leaky vessels. What is in us will leak out.

Last night at Alpha we talked about evil. “Do you believe in witchcraft, and spells, and black magic, etc.” “Well, I have seen it work, but I don’t believe in it.” And the stories start spilling out. Why is it that people have seen so much evil, and even though they don’t want to, it is hard not to believe in evil more than in good?

I think that as evil caters to selfishness, people who have been selfish their whole lives leak out all kinds of powerful things as they try to manipulate their circumstances without God. In a greater way, people who live sacrificially and selflessly can leak out even more powerful things. Is it possible that the closer we get to God relationally, the more God blesses people around us? From my experience, I don’t think this happens by us trying harder, at least not in the traditional sense of working harder to “be good.” I think it happens by spending daily time alone with God praying the Psalms, sitting quietly with Him, listening for His lessons while reading the Bible, asking for His help and telling God of our dreams and hurts and by learning to use the spiritual authority God has given us.

I realize that when I am anxious, something has become bigger to me than God. This is me breaking the first commandment, and I am helpless to stop it in my own strength. Then I realize that King David was anxious a lot too. And somehow He became a man after God’s own heart, and he had a great influence for good. How did he do it? Continually, though all of life’s circumstances, David took his stuff to God, and committed to making God “Plan A”, and he had no “Plan B”. The anxieties eventually melt, and God takes first place again in our hearts.

Psalm 61:1-3

Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer.

From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy.

In summary,

1. Submit everything to God.

2. Sit quietly with God daily.

3. Be thankful.

4. Expect God to bless people around you.

5. Expect this all to happen in increasing measures.

Your thoughts?

Rick.

Emma was born a month after we moved from Santarem to Altamira. It was a difficult time for us as missionaries. Emma was a huge blessings from God in those days, and during the 6,209 days since then. May the Lord’s hand of blessing continue to rest heavily on you Emma, for many more thousands of days.  

Seventeen years ago Iza flew from Santarem to Altamira to help Deanna when Emma was born. Now Dr. Ribeiro and Iza, and Silvia, John, and Antony, drove 25 hours to spend the week-end with us. Emma takes her second name from Iza, who has been an inspiration to us all these many years.

Dienes was part of the original Sunday School group that has grown into the Mirante Church.

We pass through cattle drives along the way.

We drive through the Belo Monte Dam Project, which is under construction 24/7.

“I thought we were coming to this conference to learn about how to grow our churches, how to get more done, and to learn some new church strategies. I was so surprised to learn this conference is about learning to how rest. I have not slept well in a long time. I am so exhausted from the work…”

Clenildo and Elba organized a Pastoral Care conference where we taught about the importance of a one-day-a-week of rest, how to read the Bible for your own spiritual health, and how to practice silence and solitude as ways to recharge. As we are pushing 20 years of pastoring, we have many, very-tired, and scarred leaders in our midst. This conference felt like a long drink of cold water to some who have been trudging through a desert land in certain areas of their lives. Sometimes we could see the peace of God descend on the group. There was lots of time for reflection, for rest, and for conversations over meals and snacks.

The site where we had the retreat is our own training center. It is so encouraging to see this place functioning well. For many years this was only a distant dream.

“When are we going to do this again?…”

The four-adult / four-children church planting team from Marabá travelled four hours by car and motorbike to spend the night with the four-adult / four-children team in Pacajá. The next morning the sixteen of us travelled by bus, motorbike, and two 4x4s, to Altamira. There we met up with other families and couples who either live in Altamira, or who had travelled great distances as well. Thursday night all the adults went to the camp for the conference, and all the kids stayed in town. There was a rich sense of family.

For months Elba and Clenildo have planned a Pastoral Care retreat in Altamira. Two days before it started Marsha sent us word that people in Pacajá were protesting by closing the highway. They did this by dragging two huge logs in front of the one-lane bridge, and they also built a fire of burning tires across the highway. We packed our things and left that afternoon, thinking we would likely have to walk across the bridge and take a bus the rest of the way. We were glad to hear, when we got to Pacajá, the police had opened the road back up. We spent the night at the Wilsons and together with the Pacajá church-planting team we arrived at noon in Altamira.

I don’t have any photos of the residue of the road block, but we did take a few other photos along the way.

Bella and Emma drew a few pictures last week, and here they are.

It was Yara’s birthday! The Snells were leaving. The Rae’s had Jon and Daniel Smit visiting from Canada. It was time for a big meal together!

I gave my camera to 12-year-old Marlison before church started last Sunday. Here is what he saw.