We are finishing up the last day or two of our vacation/getting our documents. I am sitting in a beautiful church in Curitiba. I would move here if it wasn’t so stinking cold. It is amazing to me that over the course of these two weeks it is only in the last day that I have began to feel refreshed. Really it was last night that it all started to come together.
We got to Curitiba in time to visit the Wednesday night service of Calvary Chapel. Tom Stowe is currently pastoring here and we only met him last week. He is using Wednesday night as a worship, prayer, sharing, let the Spirit of God move kind of time. It was really beautiful. We started the evening by just waiting on the Lord, sitting a few minutes in silence and letting the busyness of life drift away. Letting God speak into our hearts before we entered into worship. During that time the song Shout to the Lord began going through my mind. I realized that in the last 3 weeks we have been with 3 different pastors, been in 3 cities, been in slums and rich neighborhoods. The one thing all men can do to be refreshed and healed is to shout to the Lord.
Sometimes we get so busy trying to figure out what we are doing. Whether it is work, college, retirement, missions, pastoring or even just being a kid. We get busy, we get rushed, we get tired and we get more broken.
I walked into a pharmacy inside the City of God a fairly notorious slum. 10 feet away I knew the guy behind the counter loves Jesus. It shown all over his being. He was reflecting the glory of God in his daily job. Excited to meet me and far more excited to know I was there as a missionary. His face shown with joy. He lives in a very hard, very poor place but he is living for the purpose which he was created.
I get frustrated, bitter, impatient and begin to compare myself to others when I loose sight of that purpose. The more I look around at all the other broken people the more I loose sight of who I am and what God is doing in me. The more I feel like a failure, the more I need to serve God to feel good, the more I need to think of myself. The more I think of myself the more broken I become.
Last night as I just remembered to shout to the Lord and enter into worship, for me that is often just listening and reflecting as singing is not one of my gifts, I was refreshed. We have had a relaxing wonderful time. The kids got to surf, I got to a little. We were blessed to lay on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. To visit a city many people only dream of going to. However that only prepared me for the refreshment I really needed.
As we worshiped and sought the Lord I seen all I need to do is praise Him. Looking up, looking directly at who has made me, looking for His pleasure not mine is what cures me of the sin that engulfs our world. If we don’t look up, glorify the lord, live our lives as an offering we will just continue to be tired. To be broken and dis-satisfied. If we praise Him, we will leave the things of this world behind and begin to see things in a very different way.
As we finish this time I see we have freedom. In the next 6 months to 1 year I believe we will finish our time in Foz. I don’t know that for certain but it is the sense I have. It isn’t a great place for our family to live. It lacks a lot of the things we would normally do to relax. We are satisfied in the ministry we are doing there but we have the freedom as we continue to learn and grow as missionaries and in the language to begin looking and praying for an area that suits us better. The point isn’t where we live or serve but do we glorify Him with the gifts and talents he has given us.
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