I am so grateful for the colorful skies! This scene was in the East as the sun was setting in the West. The skies are so awesome. Pre-pandemic, when I could minister in the jail, I used to get locked in with the guys that were behind five padlocked doors and gates. There was a small hole in the roof in that cell, so things got wet when it rained, and sometimes the moon passed into view. Everyone would state their highlight of lowlight each week, and one cowboy who, if I remember right, got drunk and killed someone just got transferred to this cell. In his previous cell, he had no view of the sky, but here, when he could see the moon, it was a major highlight. A MAJOR highlight. Can you imagine going from living outdoors as a cowboy to getting locked in a cell for six months with no view of the sky and nothing to do or read? I cannot imagine it, but I know the sky is awesome, and we are richer for pondering how awesome it is and what it demonstrates to us about God.
These two ladies will still be having this same conversation 60 years from now, with different people but the same topics.
Many of our friends have small children, so because this was a long week-end in Brazil, they had an impromptu camping trip here on the mission property.
1. In 1994, Northview Church in Abbotsford sent a team to come and help in Brazil. We hosted them, and they did some work projects and special services. The pastor of the small church we attended was Timoteo. He was from a farming and fishing community in the Amazon Basin. The tiny church had a few benches that didn’t lean back. The Northview team brought some musical instruments, which they left with the church.
2. In 2022, our daughter Bella and her husband Tim moved to the basement suite of Ditch and Janice, one of the guys we met from that Northview outreach. We remain connected to several people from that team almost 30 years ago.
3. Pastor Timoteo moved to Brasil Novo, a small city on the Transamazon Highway, because the previous pastor, Ademir, died in the pandemic.
4. This week, Timoteo sent me photos of the church they are planting out of Brasil Novo.
5. Seeing local people raising resources and helping build their own church building feels right to me. When they build their own church congregations develop muscle memory to pray, act, and do things with resources they get from Him. It’s freeing.
Timoteo was our pastor in 1994, and we’re still working together. He is now the pastor of the Brasil Novo church, about nine hours East of us, and planting churches in the surrounding region.
I was stunned by a drawing that compared the Garden of Eden to the Tabernacle.
Thanks to Tim Mackie, who copied it from a book by Michel Morales. Click here.
The Garden of Eden
The Tree of Life is in the Center of the Garden.
You have to pass the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The River of God flows from the Garden and provides life to the regions of Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon.
Adam and Eve are expelled, and cherubims guard the entrance.
The Tabernacle
The priests get to go back in past the cherubim to get to the Holy of Holies.
They represent the people.
Inside the temple is garden imagery.
The children of Israel were to be a blessing to the whole world (Gen. 12:1-3).
The Kingdom of God
Jesus ushered in the Kingdom of God when the veil to the Holy of Holies was ripped open (Matt. 27:51).
The idea is that all believers have access to God’s presence and then go and be good news/life/fragrant to a hurting world (1 Pet. 2:9).
The curtain was ripped open. The cherubim will let us back to God’s presence…
…But the Tree of Testing still exists.
The Tree of Testing Can Still Keep You Out
Jesus was clear that the Tree of Testing still exists.
“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matt. 6:14-15).
Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts…. And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.” (Matt. 18:21-35).
How to Forgive From the Heart
Note: If you feel vulnerable or overpowered, please get professional help. This counsel is for healthy people who got stuck or want to help their friends.
1. How did Jesus react to people? Sometimes He served. Sometimes he lets others help Him. Sometimes, He went away by Himself; other times, He got angry and set things in order. While the emotional behavior varied (adapting, distance, and anger), Jesus always loved people because God is love (1 John 4:7-8).
2. On our journey to heaven, many people (everyone?) will come into situations where they feel forgotten, betrayed, scorned, shunned, or cheated at a level they never dreamed possible. The Tree of Temptation in the Garden just got real. We can choose to judge others or leave judgment to God. This does not mean being quiet and submitting to what feels wrong. We seek to obey God in each situation while loving and staying close to our people.
3. About ten years ago, I hit a wall. A businessman friend at Marie’s Restaurant in Abbotsford asked me, “You’re not going to let this be an anchor for you, are you?” The way the question was asked caused me to reply, “No, of course not.” But it did, in fact, become an anchor until I learned to forgive from the heart. It took a few years. The forgiveness and the desire to let God be the judge started as a decision, but it all took a few years to drop from my head to my heart. The first time is the hardest; once you have muscle memory, it gets easier. Except God’s tests get more challenging, depending on the level of leadership calling.
MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” (Heb. 12:5b-6).
4. I would way sooner eat freely from the Tree of Life and become a Tree of Life for my people than die slowly in the arid wasteland outside the Garden (Psalm 1).
5. I have flourished at a new level for years, starting in 2017, throughout the pandemic, and in an ever-increasing capacity. I can feel my capacity for thriving increasing.
Your Thoughts?
What is your experience with being anchored outside the Garden to free access to the Tree of Life and Flourishing?
Clenildo sent me this photo of a group of locals from Porto de Moz heading out to visit villages hours away. They want to help people. They want to spread the Good News of God’s Kingdom. Clenildo motivated several local missionary teams in Porto de Moz to reach the surrounding villages.
These people were all just children, or maybe not even born, when Clenildo and Angelita moved to Porto de Moz as missionaries in 1994. In 1995 Clenildo and Angelita moved 10 hours upstream to Altamira to work with Deanna and me. However, they are still important and well-respected in many circles in the Lower Xingu Region.
Our goal/dream is to help people connect to God in such a way that they naturally want to tell everyone they meet.
Spontaneous, Sustainable, Church-planting.
Someone might think, “They probably have nothing else to do.” While these outings are fun, they are also expensive and time-consuming. These people choose this way to spend their time rather than fixing up their houses, working, or resting. On the one hand, I am amazed. These people are my heroes. On the other hand, I wish this was so common it was happening everywhere in the Amazon Basin.
Valdinho sent me this photo of a Discovery Group in Porto de Moz. Valdinho is at the far right, back row. He is one of the first people I met in Porto de Moz in 1995.
Let’s 1) Study the end of the Bible, then 2) Go back to Jesus’ first sermon, and then 3) Farther back yet to the book of Psalms 4) To learn a critically important idea.
1. The Last Page of the Bible
Revelation 22 has some strange advice.
And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.
(NASB, Rev. 22:10-12).
Do not try to change others. Work on your own stuff.
You only have a few years. Make them count.
You will be significantly rewarded for getting it right.
2. Jesus’ First Sermon
Jesus packages the first part of His speech with a repeating phrase. This was a common writing style
If you do the first part, you can expect the second part.
Your people will resist change. That’s ok. That is normal.
Keep learning to be the right person and win big time.
Expect a counter-intuitive bubbling joy at the strangest times. This, too, is the new normal.
I am looking for resilient servant leaders through whom I can bless the world.
3. Psalms
“The book of Psalms is a collection of poems that are intentionally arranged to tell God’s story.” Tim Mackie.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. (NASB, Psalm 1:2-3).
Psalm 1 starts with a Garden of Eden story.
The person who ponders the scriptures day and night become a Tree of Life to those around them.
Psalm 149 saw God’s people in the Kingdom of God.
Thrill at God’s presence.
Talk about God’s excellence.
Your attitude is important.
4. Practically Speaking…
Are you tracking with me so far?
A. Rev. 22 – We change systems by changing ourselves. B. Matt. 5 – The meek will inherit the earth? C. Psalms 1 – We are like Trees of Life? Psalm 149 – We win by Delighting in God in all circumstances? D. How does this work?
Some Ideas
Anxiety is a great thing because it helps us know where to start working on our issues. Note: For anxious people who feel overpowered, I advise professional help.
For the rest of us, I advise paying attention to what you do when you feel anxious. Then wait for the next time and act differently. Do not tell people around you what you are doing. Just react differently. It will feel so strange. It will take courage. It will take the Holy Spirit’s help. Change is almost impossibly hard. Sometimes it takes pain to motivate us. Change is so awkward and uncomfortable. Persist. It gets easier. God is cheering you on! Like a parent watching their child take their first steps.
Your people, on the other hand, will wonder what is wrong. It’s predictable. “You can’t do that.” “If you do that, you can’t be us.” Keep prayerfully persisting, humbly, courageously, and obediently. You will sense God’s presence radiating from you. Finally, your people may say, “I am so glad you persisted. This new us is way better.”
And this is God. He is with you and He is at the finish line with a significant reward.
The above chart contains examples of an opposite response to anxious coping. It is not a formula because humans are way too complex for formulas. God is on your side! He wants you to pass, and will patiently give you more chances. Spend enough time with God each morning to get ideas about how to proceed. You might think, “I could never do or say that to so-and-so.” Or maybe you need to sit calmly, listen to another perspective, and truly hear someone. The Christian life, when you are fully engaged, gets exciting. Jesus calls it “An Abundant Life.”
We have a family of peregrine falcons that keep down frogs, snakes, lizards, and songbirds.
Southern Lapwings live in our field. They have cool haircuts.
“God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth’” (Gen. 1: 21-22).
