More about Jose...

For those from my missions blog who wanted to know more about my Jose, here is a quick summary! :)

Jose is a student at Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV). He is currently studying Petroleum Engineering, but will finish in 2012, Lord willing, and after that plans to continue in University ministry or perhaps help plant a new MUF church* in another city in Venezuela. Jose plays the bass guitar at church and has just been asked to be the official Director of University Ministry for MUF.

Jose has lived in Caracas for 10 years, but his parents live about 8 hours from here. He and his brother live in a residence, (what we would call a boarding house) because there are no dorms for university students. One of Jose's dreams is to open the first private dorm in Caracas which would house up to 120 students and would be a bridge to reaching these students for Christ by first meeting their need for a safe and healthy place to live. There is a house for sale that MUF may buy that houses 13 and would be our starting point.

How we met:
Jose and I met at church when I first came to Caracas in May 2009, but we did not get to know one another until I returned in April after spending 9 months in Valencia. The week I returned, there was a Student Leadership Conference for all the MUF churches in Venzuela being hosted here at MUF Caracas and Jose was in charge of logistics. He drew me a map to get to the university and when I arrived helped me find parking and get to the building where we were meeting. From that point on, he became my official "copilot" helping me get around and learn Caracas. Since I'm the only one with a car, I have become the taxi for the students at MUF. I started helping with the Monday campus Bible studies and Friday evangelism activities and it was through these that I was able to see Jose's heart for Christ and for the lost. In June, the board wanted to send me back to Texas to re-apply for my religious visa, which still has not come. I asked Jose, his brother and another student from MUF to house/dog sit for me while I was gone. We talked on Skype and messenger several times during those two weeks and when I returned, Jose and I started dating officially. We have visited his parents twice and he met my parents when they were here in May. All of our parents support our relationship and our decision to marry, as does our pastor here in Caracas.

*MUF (Mision Ultima Frontera) was started as a church specifically focused on reaching the universities of Venezuela for Christ. Currently, there are three MUF churches in Venezuela, but the vision is to have a MUF in every city in Venezuela where there is a university. That's a lot of cities!! (MUF is part of the Convencion Nacional Bautista de Venezuela, which is the counterpart to the Southern Baptist Convention in the U.S. and has a partnership with Texas Baptists.)

Reflection on 1 Peter 3:3-7

So, last night’s Bible study was about relationships. The text, 1 Peter 3:3-7 speaks to both women and men. It tells the women about true beauty and it’s source. It tells men how women should be treated. Here are my rambling thoughts on the subject.

Let me go backwards...as far as the man’s role in taking care of the woman, Peter is speaking specifically to husbands telling them to live intimately with their wives, knowing them deeply and treating them with honor and great caution as the precious and fragile vessel they are. Ok, so what about us women who have been forced to become independent because there is no man to treat us that way? We have to kill our own bugs, drive our own nails, fix our own leaky faucets, maintain our own vehicles, earn our own living, protect ourselves out in the world and most importantly, see to our own spiritual growth and maturity. These are things that a man is supposed to do for his wife. Obviously, he’s not supposed to do them because she can’t. I’ve been doing for myself for years. I don’t need a husband for those things, but I want one. I don’t particularly like killing my own bugs. I truly believe that the husband doing those things for a wife fulfills a deeper need in both the man and the woman. The man needs to feel needed, appreciated and wanted. He needs to be the strong protector, the decision-maker, the leader, the fixer of things. The woman also needs to feel needed, appreciated and wanted. She needs to have the security of a man’s strong protection, the peace in a man’s ability to make decisions for the family, the comfort of knowing her needs are taken care of and the cherished understanding that a man is going to do for her what Christ did for the Church—give his life up, present her as a radiant bride, without blemish or wrinkle, love her as his own body (Ephesians 5:25-31).

So, where does this leave us single women? I know not every woman is supposed to marry, some are called to singleness and therefore must depend on the Lord for the things mentioned above. But what about those of us who long for marriage, but it’s just not happened yet? We long for the man who will be our protector, spiritual leader, provider and lover. But, we’re stuck waiting. The church is full of women waiting for men to do their job. Many of us are still single because there hasn’t come along a man who can lead spiritually…many are the men who can protect us physically, provide for us financially and kill the bugs, fix the faucet and maintain the vehicle, but the spiritual leaders are few and far between.

Men, single and married, have fumbled the ball and women have had to pick it up and keep going. We’re determined not to let the enemy force a turnover. Women are fighting for their families, taking their kids to church, gutting it out single and taking on leadership roles in the church because the men just aren’t doing it. Sure, there are some, but walk into any church in the world (with rare exception) and observe the ratio. Ever since the Garden of Eden, when Adam, who was with Eve stood by and watched her fall into the Devil’s trap, men have been falling down on their job. Hopefully, this does not sound like a bitter diatribe from a single woman who longs to be married; it is an honest, though not pretty, observation of reality.

Women have also failed in their role of submissiveness. Peter clearly states that what made Sarah beautiful was her submissiveness to Abraham. Although we know she was outwardly beautiful as well because of the accounts of Abraham lying and saying she was his sister to keep from being killed by men who might want her. There are other examples of outward beauty with the women of old-look at Rachel and Leah. So, what do we do with this biblical teaching about true beauty? As women, we have failed to cultivate a gentle and quiet spirit. We have failed submit to authority and instead have sought our own will, asserted our own independence. Many women have rejected marriage in the pursuit of a career, while others of us have pursued a career because marriage didn’t present itself as an option. Women have turned to outward beauty as a source of self-worth resulting in immodest dress, exhorbitant spending on beauty products and treatments and obsession with clothes, shoes and accessories. Why do we do this? Beauty makes a woman feel powerful because it gets the man’s attention and makes the other women jealous. But as we know charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised (Proverbs 31:30).

So what are we to do? I say the only thing we can do is examine ourselves to make sure that we are doing what we know God has called us to do. Look inward and make sure we are not failing at our role of biblical manhood or womanhood and make the necessary changes. Then, pray, pray, pray for the church. Pray for men to stand up and be men. Pray for women to accept their role as women. Pray for spiritual leaders, assertive, yet gentle men to be raised up and to pursue the godly women in an appropriate way. Pray for single women to not give in to fear, but to wait for the right man, to be submissive to authority and willing to give up their independence. Pray for the church to teach these concepts of biblical manhood and womanhood. Pray for men and women around the world to understand and obey the clear teachings of God’s Word on their roles and to determine in their hearts to carry out with their actions what they know God would have them to be.

Here’s where I currently stand in this effort:
To begin with, the concept of beauty is a tricky one. I know that Biblical beauty comes from a gentle and quiet spirit, a precious and valuable thing in God’s sight. Is it precious and valuable in man’s? To a godly man, it should be, but so many Christian men are still looking for the outward beauty that Proverbs tells us is fleeting. Beauty also comes from submissiveness, specifically to a husband. So, what if you have no husband? I know we are to be submissive to authority both in society and in the church, but does that scream ‘beautiful’ to those around us? Peter goes on to say that we are Sarah’s daughters if we do what is right and do not give way to fear. Doing what is right is much easier than not giving way to fear…at least for me. I’m deathly afraid of being alone for the rest of my life, but I will keep on doing what is right, with or without a husband. I guess that is not giving way to fear. I’m determined not to let my fear of being alone cause me to compromise in the area of relationships. It has in the past and it’s very tempting to allow it to in the present. It’s not my role to seek a husband and there’s no way I’ll settle for less than God’s best. So, why do I continually find myself looking around? It is a daily struggle for me as a single missionary to submit to God's will for my life, to accept my current situation and to glorify God through it. I daily pray for my own attitude, will and actions to conform to God's perfect plan. I also daily pray for a godly husband to partner with in ministry. Unless I hear a clear word from God saying that is not in His plan for me, I will continue to do so. Now, my next step is to take my own advice and to pray for the Church.

This is a video slide show of my trip to Guatemala last week with some wonderful folks from Houston's First Baptist Church. It was called a "rookie trip" because several members of our group were first timers. You wouldn't know it, though, by the way they all jumped in and ministered to those kids! We probably played with around 700 children over the course of the week (500 in just two days!).

God used this week to show me that even if you don't have enough crafts to go around and you run out of balloons, you can give them Jesus, and that's way more important!

The first part has a lot of children because we took their pictures and printed them right there on a little photo printer I'd brought. They made frames that said "Cristo ama a ______" which means "Christ loves insert name here." Most of these children had never owned a picture of themselves, so that was a real treat. The moms also wanted to do the crafts with their children and some of them even came to get their pictures made. That was a reminder to me that these women have very little amusement in their lives and even just coloring a picture of Zaccheus can be fun for them!

Praying for my students...

Yesterday, I was driving home from work, exhausted as usual, and thinking about how to motivate my students to hang in there until Spring Break.

I was specifically thinking about one particularly unmotivated student whose name will be kept a secret since kids can access my blog. As I mused about this particular kid, I felt the Lord saying, "Karla, have you prayed for this kid or only fretted over the lack of motivation you see?" That wasn't the first time I've gotten that question and I was reminded again that worrying does no good. Prayer is the only source of power in this and every situation. So, I began praying for the student and others who I've been burdened for. Now, if I will just keep it up, I can't wait to see the results...

Questions...

Funny thing...as a teacher, you hear all kinds of questions. Good questions that give you that warm fuzzy feeling that you're actually making a difference in some kid's life. Bad questions that make you wonder why you're in this profession. Stupid questions that do exist despite the old adage. Yes, there is such a thing as a stupid question. With 13 year olds, you never know what you're going to get...every day is a new adventure.

Well, I got to thinking...I've got all these students from different religions, cultures and backgrounds and the most important thing they can do is keep asking questions. I mean, if they get to where they just accept everything they're taught just because someone older than them said it, then they'll never find the Truth. So, my new goal is to encourage the questions. Yes, even the stupid ones. I want them to keep asking, keep seeking and keep wondering about things. Now, if I can just figure out how to do that...

Wearing Out

Have you ever noticed how nothing stays new? I bought a new car last year and within a few weeks it had a small white scratch on the door from another car's door. I had to buy a new computer because my old one got so slow. We need a new dishwasher, but Granddaddy is balking on that one. Even people get older and start to break down. Everything and everyone wears out.

Why? I submit that the deterioration of stuff and people is due to the fact that we live in a fallen world--a world that was created to be perfect and everlasting, but due to sin, is now subject to decay. But there's hope. This world isn't all there is...we have a perfect and everlasting home waiting for us where nothing will break, nothing will get scratched or wear out...and neither will we.

As Christians, whenever we get a scratch on our new car or something breaks, or whenever we get sick or start to feel old age creep up on us, rather than getting upset and disappointed about the loss of newness, we should let those things remind us that a perfect Heaven awaits.

Sure, we have a responsibility to take care of things--we are to be good stewards of everything God's given us, including our bodies. But, when stuff happens that is beyond your control, try cultivating an eternal perspective and seeing these events (however painful) as opportunities to look forward to the time when all things will be made new and stay that way forever.

“Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.”
-John Wooden