Christian Life Fellowship Colombia Trip

Jair, the Pastor of the Embera Chami house churches and is also a human rights attorney for his indigenous tribe. He works diligently to get their rights enacted into the laws of Colombia. Since the indigenous peoples are among the poorest in Colombia, Jair does much of his work pro bono. Because of his dedication to the cause of gaining human rights for his people, Jair lives very modestly in a barrio that does not have guards, or vigilantes, as they are called here. Jair shared this testimony after the teaching of “A Secret of Peace.”

Recently, on a Sunday morning, Jair was awakened at about 2:00 in the morning to the sound of intruders in the small house he shares with his wife, Jasmine and his three children, Vanessa age 9, Christian age 8 and Santiago age 6. He came into the living room just in time to see two men running out the front door with his laptop and cell phone. Jair ran out the door after them screaming for help but they were too fast and got away. He returned to his house where Jasmine told him, “Listen Jair, our kids are fine. Let’s just go back to sleep and we will call the police in the morning.” Jair and Jasmine thanked God for keeping their children safe, went back to bed and slept soundly the rest of the night!

At 7:00 in the morning, Jair called the local police sub-station in his neighborhood to report the crime. The police told him they caught the thieves that night and he could come down right away and pick up his computer and cell phone. Not only were the thieves unsuccessful in stealing Jair’s material possessions they could not rob him of his peace, or a good night’s sleep! We have attached a photo of Jair and his family and a photo of Jair sharing at an indigenous house group.

A Secret of Peace

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” Hebrews 13:5

Contentment lies not in what is mine but in whose I am. When I come into a relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ, I understand whose I am and what I have. Envy causes one to look horizontally–at what others have–so we are never satisfied. We pursue the god of money, thinking of what it can buy us. Contentment invites us to look vertically–at God. When we look in his direction, we know that he is enough.

Contentment is a secret of inward peace. It recalls the bare truth that we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it, including our money. Life, in fact, is a journey from one moment of vulnerability to another. So, we should travel light and live simply. The reality for most people is that we have enough–whatever enough is. We would be well advised to be content with what we have.

Being content with less stuff and not envying those with a lot is a process that will take more than a quick prayer or reading a book or hearing a sermon. It will require a dependence and satisfaction in God. He knows what is best and what is needed in our lives. We must trust him and not money.

Too often, we take our eyes off God and put them on earthly pursuits, with money most often at the top of our lists. Money has an incredible power, much like a magnet and more like a god than most of us are willing to admit, to draw us away from those things that are eternal and life-filling.

Always be on your guard with money. As the writer of Hebrews stated, “Don’t love money.” The heart can only love one thing at a time. When we choose to love God, we will discover the marvelous benefit of contentment. And, more importantly, we will learn that money can never satisfy the heart.  Keep your focus, therefore, on God. He is enough.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:5-6

The radiance of God's glory shines in his people.

The original glory of God belongs to Jesus. Glory is the shining of God’s glory, the character of God’s very essence and substance and being. Jesus is the exact image and expression of God. Just as if you look at the exact impression of the image on a coin or a notary stamp, you see exactly what the stamp that made the image is like, so if you look at Jesus, you see exactly what God is like. Jesus is not fragmentary and incomplete; He is the full and exact expression of God.

Jesus is the effulgence, the radiant splendor of God’s glory. This is a wonderful thought. Wonderful in the idea of bringing wonder to the mind and life of the believer. Jesus is God’s glory; therefore, we see with amazing clarity that the glory of God consists not in crushing men and in tyrannizing over them and in reducing them to abject servitude, but in serving others and loving others and in the end dying for them. The glory of God is not the glory of shattering power, but the glory of suffering love.

Hebrews 1:1-3 It was in many parts and in many ways that God spoke to our fathers in the prophets in time gone past; but in the end of these days He has spoken to us in One who is a Son, a Son whom He destined to enter into possession of all things, a Son by whose agency He made the universe. He was the very effulgence of God’s very essence. He bore everything onwards by the word of His power; and after He had made purification for the sins of men, He took His royal seat at the right hand of the glory in the heights.

In June, 2011, after prayer and confirmation, we agreed to live at a farm located in a city south of Pereira. We are working to re-establish it to the original vision and purpose for the property. Besides being able to restore the work of providing a home for orphans, we will introduce widows as the primary caregivers in exchange for room, board and a small stipend. We will also begin the strategic work of training leaders and missionaries at the mission house located on the property. This has been part of our vision since coming to Colombia, and now God has provided a very beautiful facility to pursue His work! We are excited about what God is doing. He is faithful to give us the desires of our hearts. By teaching and training orphans and leaders foundational biblical principles and the mission of God, we will be able to raise up a new generation of world changers for God’s Kingdom!

Our work with the indigenous groups will continue with our new location making us more centrally located to each group. Early this year we are planning to travel back to the jungle to visit the Epena Pedee group. We will continue to do evangelistic campaigns. The Mision Panamerca church group will continue to be our Colombian covering.

When the farm is ready, we will begin meeting with local government officials who can direct us to organizations who place true orphans. We will also be searching for and interviewing widows from the local churches to serve as housemothers to the orphans.

The farm has established fruit trees including bananas, mandarins, lemons, mango, papaya, avocado, oranges, and other tropical fruits. We will develop a tropical subsistence farm to grow and harvest vegetables and other nutritional foods for the orphan feeding program. We will establish a chicken coop for poultry and a fish hatchery according to recommendations from ECHO, a global Christian organization that equips people with agricultural resources and skills to reduce hunger and improve the lives of the poor.

It is our intention to populate the facility with orphans and begin training seminars, retreats and other events as soon as possible. However, the property is in need of much repair and restoration. We will begin repopulating the home as soon as the safety concerns and living conditions have been properly addressed. The buildings need  repair and updates that include plumbing and electrical, a new roof for the mission house, security fence around the perimeter. The work requires professionals as well as anyone who is willing to help get the property functioning safe and sound.

Here is a list of projects that teams can adopt and help with.

Repair and update plumbing, install hot waterheaters

Repair and update electrical

Paint

Carpentry

Build out buildings for goats, chickens, etc.

Establish a vegetable garden

Install water purification system

You can view photos of the farm at this link:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2073479564401.263230.1467273806

Our friend Julio working on the finca.

I stand in awe of all I see

Of all the things You have created

But still You choose to think of me

Who am I that You should suffer

Your very life to set me free

The only thing that I can give You

Is the life You gave to me

[Chorus]

This is my offering, dear Lord

This is my offering to You, God

And I will give You my life

For it’s all I have to give

Because You gave Your life for me

I stand before You at this altar

So many have given You more

I may not have much I can offer

Yet what I have is truly Yours

[Chorus]

This is my offering…

(Third Day; Offerings II, All I Have to Give)

One reflection I am particularly thankful for is the one I find on the buses we travel in between Colombian cities. Kevin likes to sit in the front seat behind the driver because it offers more legroom. It also allows us to inspect passengers as they are entering the bus. Our strategy concerning this arrangement is that we can spot potential troublemakers boarding the bus.

I like the front seat because there is a darkened window positioned right in front of us between the driver and the passengers. Therefore, not only can I see my reflection for vanity’s sake, but I can also see all the other people on the bus and everything that is going on behind me. This is also good strategy for gringos traveling by bus in Colombia!

I cannot be sure how many bus rides we took before I become aware of another dimension of the reflector panel in front of us. One day I suddenly noticed if I looked through the surface images in the glass, I could see what we were approaching, as well. Though we rode in the buses many times, I never noticed our immediate destiny was always within sight! All along, I was unable to see what we were moving toward because I was looking at myself and what was behind me! I realized that this is what I have been guilty of in my own life!

This tri-directional view in the glass is sometimes very much like how many of us view and live our lives. We look at what is behind us with regrets or gratification. There are events and people in our past that we continue to dwell on. Keeping our eyes and hearts focused on past events and people affect and limit our progress, our attitudes, and our outlook. In addition to those phantoms and hazes of time past, our self-centered nature keeps us effectively focused on the second directional view of our present circumstances.

The apostle Paul understood this about our human nature when he penned Philippians 3:13-14.

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Looking at the images in the window, we can become mesmerized with our present circumstances  and events and people that are behind us. After looking for so long, it is difficult to adjust our visual perception in order to be able to see the third directional view of what lies ahead. It is true that learning from the past and embracing the present is vitally important. However, allowing the past to hinder and the present to limit our vision for future things is certainly not conducive to healthy impartation of sound growth and accomplishment. Keeping our eyes on the goal for the prize of the upward call of God is the ultimate resolution to achieving confidence in who we are in Him and thus, arriving in that place that brings freedom and rest.