Chlorine

I never knew that Chlorine and sin could be so similar. Until yesterday. Yes you heard that right. Let me explain what happened yesterday then maybe that will help with why they are similar. Here at our base in Guatemala, we use chlorine tablets to help clean our water a little, not enough to be safe to drink. So after being up on our water tower with Gavin checking to see if water was being pumped from our spring. When we came down the container of chlorine, that we use was there. There were a few tablets that were used about a month ago and then put back into the container because it made the water to chlorinated. Yes I even put too much in and ruined some clothes int he laundry. I wasn't even doing laundry and I ruin clothes. Gavin innocently asked, "dad, what does chlorine smell and look like." so being me, I said wait just a minute, I opened the container slowly away from our faces and the plum of chlorine shot out right into our lungs. Coughing started immediately and Gavin was turning blue for a few seconds, Scared is the word and the feeling at the time. Yes, it was a very rough few hours. Coughing, breathing hard and getting through, not a fun way to spend an afternoon, Gwen on the phone to my mom (a nurse) getting advice and what to do. It was after Arselio (our guard) and Hermano Jesus prayed over Gavin using Matthew 7:7. That he started feeling better.

So where do sin and chlorine tie together? Well when sin is not dealt with it will rob life from you, sometimes without you even knowing. Chlorine, when not dealt with properly can zap life from you. I have been learning all about the presence of God, he is present in everything, it is a choice you and I make to see his presence or not. It is a choice to be taught by him or not be taught by him. He is always there revealing himself, do you see him? Even in the midst of adversity I saw HIM, I could see he teaching and leading us all day yesterday. Its your choice to see God or not, it your choice to deal with sin or not.

Thanks

Sometimes a picture can say so much more than words. Take a few moments to look at the pictures below. and as you see them. Imagine a little boy or little girl walking in from the streets, scared, nervous, where am I going? Who is taking care of me? The emotions that could run through an orphans head. As they see this what will run through their head? Peace, Love Hope, Joy, is our prayer that the kids will see.
Thank you to so many of you who Gave to the LORD, to give peace, love, hope and Joy to a child. I pray that you will be touched today by God's presence in your life and feel his peace, love, hope and Joy as you seek HIM.

NEWWORLDSON CONCERT

Want to enjoy and Great night of worship and great music to liven your walk with the Lord?

Sunday night November 7 at 7:30pm NewWorldSon will be in concert at Community Reformed Church in Zeeland, they have been very generous to Open Doors Orphanage and are giving the proceeds from the concert to Open Doors.

Community Reformed
iTickets

So where do you fit in? Ask a neighbor, invite a friend, maybe someone who needs a little encouragement. bring them to the concert and let them and you be touched by the power of awesome Christian music. By doing that you are supporting Open Doors.
click on the links below to see and hear a little more of New World Son

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaHLTLmgDmc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17eWXuUTq5s

Love and sacrifice

What does love look like? A question Dan posed to us in our devotions one night. I ask you what love and sacrifice looks like? I ask because yesterday i was a witness to what love and sacrifice are by 2 different people. Let me tell you what God did yesterday. It was Erin (the 2 year nurse from Hudsonville) birthday yesterday and she wanted to do something special for her birthday but instead of it revolving around her she made it revolve around others. We went out to eat at a restaurant that had a play land for kids. She wanted to take a 16 year old boy from a near by village who suffers from Osteomyelitis, a bone disease that eats at the bone. Marcos and his mother and her 1 1/2 year old daughter came with us to eat. Love to me is a mother and son who only eat half their meal and pack the rest into napkins and stuff in their bag to bring home to other family members. Love is to not eat the whole meal and let others share in a treat. Love is to be so poor that you will not fill yourself without thinking of the rest of the family. Love is sacrifice and not indulge yourself. Love is a mother letting her daughter enjoy an ice cream cone when she could be.
Love is a 22 year old women thinking of others on her birthday above herself. Love is giving up what you do not need.
Love, what have you done to show love today?

picture updates

4 weeks

A brief look at where things were a month ago today and where things are today. God has given us men and women who have given of themselves and served with willing and blessed hearts. Glory be to God for what he is doing through many people. Thank you!

Framing team arrives

Well after some issues with a van not starting and hassles of getting a van that could transport our whole team we made it to the airport, the team of 22 people have arrived at the base and did not want to sit and do nothing. So below are some pictures of what was accomplished in about 2 hours worth of work. The post are out from the orphanage and we are ready to begin building walls. God is so good.

The container has arrived!!! Praise the Lord for a timely arrival, you never know when things happen here in Guatemala, but our 40' container filled with mostly donated items is here without theft, or too much damage. The container brought us counter tops, cabinets, interior and exterior doors from Lumbermens Inc. stove from Merchandise Equipment and Supply, plywood, trim wood, treated wood, 2x4's from Standale Lumber, Paint from Repcolite Paints. Copier scanner fax from Noordyk Business, and many other items to make the orphanage a reality.
Tomorrow we pick up 22 more team members to help build the orphanage. we will be taking down some 600 plus posts holding the roof up at present and building the interior walls, as well as doing all the rough in plumbing and electrical to be ready for 14 more team members coming in next Saturday to drywall.

Ephesians 3:20 says, " Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, ACCORDING to his power at work within us." (caps i added)
Please continue to pray that we can be in accordance with his will and power to do more than we can ask or imagine.


Load is too heavy for the Cat, it took 6 Guatemalans and Me to stand on the back as counter weight, Real OSHA approved counterweight
Why wait for the machine, 10 Guatemalans just started pulling skids without us asking to the back of the truck

Earth shakes

Phil Wickham in his song TRUE LOVE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sonjpHbeDQ, says "the Earth was shaking in the dark all creation felt the fathers broken heart" I can only think of that when I feel the earth shake literally under my feet as it did just an hour ago here in Guatemala. Well, today was the first day feeling an earthquake. In fact a 5.0 earthquake. All creation can feel the fathers heart break for those who do not yet call him Savior. Well I can say that those words now have a different meaning after feeling Gods heart shake the ground and remind us who is in control and who is the one who ordains the earths movements and each individuals soul.

What about you, do you shake when you know someone doesn't know Christ, when someone Will go to bed tonight without food?

The roof is poured

The Morning began early at 2:45 the concrete mixing crew arrived to start mixing the concrete to pour. All 80 yards of it. yes that is 2:45 in the am. The day went well with only minor problems of running out of water and a belt breaking on one of the 3 mixers. After 6 and 1/2 hours the floor was poured. the pictures show a roof on top of the orphanage that 3 weeks ago was nothing. Glory be to God for sending great men and women to help us get so far. This week we continue the work of the orphanage to keep us on pace to have the framing electrical and plumbing crew arrive on Sunday.

Day before the roof pour

Well we are progressing very well. It could not be done if we did not have guys and ladies here with servant hearts. doing all that they are doing. Even more than we expected. God is blessing us with great weather. Here are pictures of the structure befre the big pour. Thank you for your prayers and encouragment.

Today we began to build the roof of the orphanage, again God revealed himself in another big way. The company here in Guatemala that engineered the roof and designed it, first of all gave us an awesome price and really is helping us out. Today the head engineer came out to make sure we knew what we were doing, and yes she is a Believer in Jesus Christ, she leads a small group here in Guatemala city and told us that when we are finished she wants us to let her know so that her church here and her small group can become involved in the orphanage and help us out. Another gift from God and another person that God is using to be obedient to his call. Check out the pictures below of the beams being set and the roof being built

God's provision and timing

Well construction is continuing in spite of rain everyday, some days all day and night some days just a few hours. But God has revealed himself in this as well. From the floor being poured int he rain and then not raining while we finished the floor, which is now as smooth an nice as ever. to yesterday a series of events that again was perfect timing. The road into the base is not good, very pour and a lot of washouts. Buses can get through, some are getting stuck, some trucks are getting stuck. We have had 3 loads of gravel brought in to help with the road. Yesterday we were to receive our precast beams to build the roof, to unload those we have to rent a caterpillar bobcat. So here is the series of event that have happened. All the trucks were running late, and Esturdio was not feeling well and had to go to the hospital for some testing. So Dan and i went to meet the trucks at the end of the dirt road( the 3 mile rd that takes 35-45 minutes to go) to bring Noami to be with Esturdio. a truck was stuck in the road. Max (Noami's dad) was waiting for us (we did not know he was even coming this way) on the other side of the stuck truck. max brought Dan to meet which ever truck showed up first well it was the Cat truck. Dan was able to level some of the road and the precast truck showed up, they unloaded the truck at the end of the road because the truck was still stuck. when the last beams were unloaded the truck was pulled out and Dan was able to get the cat home. Today we will go and reload the beams and bring them here to the base and be ready for our fab team to start setting beams Monday.
God is good.

Building the form for the main center concrete beam

progress

Pictures of construction progress as of now. The picture on the left si of 35 men that helped us pour the concrete. we started at 4 am on Friday Sept 24 and we were done pouring 2200 sq ft. by 7 am (3 hours with 2 mixers) as one of the Iowa guys said, "that's a lot on Hombres" the other pictures are of the plumbing work that has happened and God's give of moring clouds int he mountains by us (our view every morning) and fianlly the concrete is poured. God has been so good in providing for us and leading us. We have been blessed with good weather and a tropical storm that God moved to hold off rain for us to be able to finish the floor. As you can see we finished the floor under tarps and a homemade roof system to keep it dry while we were pouring concrete. The great part of it is that while the finishing happened we were blessed with dryer air and we actually able to take the tarps down! it wasn't until today that we actually saw the path of Tropical storm Matthew, and it did a 90 degree turn north yesterday to give us reprieve from what it could have been, God is good.
God continues to provide for the orphans of Guatemala and give us wisdom beyond what we can know on our own. God is Good!!

September 18 2010

So today is September 18. All day i had one thing running through my head, what is Tariku's birth mom dealing with today? As we celebrate Tariku's 1st birthday in Guatemala, his birth mom is in Ethiopia doing what she has always done. Tariku has been given to us by the grace of God and on this his first birthday we celebrate life and health and first steps. Does his birth mom celebrate life that she gave to him and life in her that was strong enough to give him a better home?

We have been in Guatemala for 3 days now and things are well here. We are getting adjusted and trying to figure out life. it dawned on me yesterday that we are not settling in for 3 months or 6 months this is to settle in for years as God leads. We are so blessed to be able to settle in and get a footing on what God has in store for us. I will be meeting with orphanages already tomorrow possibly developing that network and being able to glean from their knowledge. God is so great he has opened so many doors for the orphanage to happen, now I pray that God will open a door in my mind to understand and comprehend Spanish and then be able to speak it well.

Peace

What is peace? is it the absence of chaos? is it the absence of too much going on around you? I think some people would call peace for them different than what others would. What about as we leave for Guatemala Tomorrow, peace. It is upon us. Sure we have things to do, too much to do in too little time. But we have peace about everything we are doing. I cannot describe the peace that passes all understanding for us right now. Oswald Chambers says that when confussion and comas set in and you are not sure what to do OBEY. Obedience brings peace. The last this and the last that for a long time, but peace surrounds it all and envelops everything about leaving for Guatemala tomorrow. Will i be ready? emotionally, yes, spiritually, yes, packing and household-stuff now. But do you see something in that, the earthly things are never ready but the parts that matter are, that si where peace reigns. Satan is trying to keep us and hold us from God's plan by the earthly matters. We will never be ready if it was about earthy things being in place. But if your emotions are there and your spirit is calling that is all that is needed for God to bring peace and let obedience reign in you. We are trying to let go of the earthly things and let the eternal things reign in us. Peace is the ability to to let God's spirit take over the human nature and the human spirit of doing and worry.

Every day occasions

Today as I read my Bible I read about Jesus calling his first few disciples. Imagine, the excitement as one gets up and follows. Then another. All because they See the Messiah. They get it they understand. How do they know and the others around them not know? What prepared them to be disciples? What qualified them to be disciples? Obedience in the small is what prepared them and qualified them. I believe it is in their early life that made them ready for now. It wasn't anything of that moment, rather everything of the moments leading up to that. I wonder what will happen with a 5 yer old little boy who goes and buys toys for Open Doors Orphanage? He is starting young and obeying God, or His parents who instill him the ability to give. Obedience is not in the big but in the small things of everyday life. What id God stirring in your life today that he is preparing you for in the future days and weeks. Did the disciples have any clue what getting up and leaving would lead them to? Do you have nay idea what pay it forward Fridays could prepare you for? obedience in the little, are you listening?

Prayer Journal

Do you prayer journal? I mean do you write down your prayers and look back every so often to be reminded of God's goodness in your life? Well this morning for me is a great morning that i opened my Bible and in my margins were written something about Jan 22 of last year. I went back into my prayer journal and realized that last January I was struggling with being scared to move to Guatemala. Would my kids want to? Would i be able to learn Spanish? would I.... Would I... Would my family...? Well as I went back and read from January 22 of this year, I realized how much peace God has given to me, how much God has answered my prayers. How much my kids want to move, how much Spanish I am picking up, how much peace I have as we are only 20 days from moving.
Do you prayer journal to see God's hand in your life? If not I strongly encourage you to TODAY go out and buy a journal (Dollar stores sell cheap ones) and start to write your prayers and let yourself see God's hand in your life. I am so encouraged this morning as I am able to praise God for his goodness. will you praise him for his goodness to you today.
John 14:15-31
God's peace

Donations

Well, we are only 3 weeks from moving to Guatemala to start Open Doors Orphanage, maybe that is why i can't sleep at 4:00 in the morning. I don't know, maybe it is because I am so high on God and what he is doing in the life of Open Doors. You see we are in process of gathering construction donations for the orphanage and they will be sent down to Guatemala on a container. Well one of the hardest things about being a missionary is asking for money and asking. As I have made contacts over the last 2 weeks God has been doing some amazing things. Many businesses have graciously given so much. Even in a time when it is difficult to give they have gave. I will have a list of the generous donors once the container ships so you can thank them by shopping and buying from them. It has been overwhelming at times receiving some of the gifts that we have received. God continually amazes me in the ways that he is providing for Open doors. Thank you for all your prayers and support as we get closer to moving to Guatemala.

People

So some people go thru life working and talking to people all around them. Do you ever realize that God can be speaking right thru you to another person. Some of you may know that Gwen and I are starting an orphanage www.opendoorsorphanage.org This process of starting an orphanage and letting God go before us has brought me face to face withe the reality that God is speaking thru all kinds of people in every place we go. Today as I was checking out at a store and talking with a clerk about life and where God was leading and what he is doing I mentioned the orphanage. Now realize, I wanted to skip right past that and get on with others things I had to get done. I didn't want to mention orphanage because I have come to realize that when that word is brought up more questions follow and you end up talking longer than what you planned. Ever been there? ever been in those spots where you feel as though the "things" on your list are more important than a conversation with a clerk or someone next to you? Well, as I mentioned orphanage the clerk next to the one I was talking with said, don't leave I want to talk with you. Through tears and excitement God spoke through this woman who has a heart for orphans, God has been working in her life to move beyond the house the car the job the American dream of having things to the Christ filled life of living for him no matter where. Another person God has brought into my path to reveal his plan. The conversation lasted for about 15 or 20 minutes and was a real conversation about what God is doing in her life, what God is doing in my life, and what God is doing in the the life of Open Doors Orphanage. the intersection of God's story being told through his people intersecting at a store. Where has God intersected your life with other people to be the fullness of his story?