Costa Rica Trip--Wrap Up

If the trip ended almost two weeks ago, it's definitely time to finish up the blog entries.  

During the week, we had the opportunity to share the "Forgiveness" lesson in two high schools.The lesson has several great illustrations, including the use of a backpack and three or four large rocks.  Adding rocks to the backpack one of the students is wearing illustrates what lack of forgiveness feels like over time.  The burden can manifest itself as bitterness or pride and it gets progressively heavier as we refuse to ask for forgiveness or forgive others.  When we are forgiven or offer forgiveness the load we've been carrying disappears.  This is a very visual illustration for the kids and before the lesson is over there are almost always some students who are crying.  The most exciting result is that they begin to understand that Jesus offers them forgiveness, no matter what they have done up to this point in their life.  The come to understand that all they need to do is admit their sins, believe Jesus died and rose from the dead and confess their sins and ask forgiveness.  He is faithful to forgive them.  Praise the Lord, there were 150 professions of faith in the schools in Costa Rica.

   

June Campaign, Sharing in the Schools

We were able to share in five different schools during the week.  Some of the schools were quite small, while others were large.  Four of the five were public K-11 schools, while one was a public vocational school.

The 30 people on the team were divided in to 8 groups.  The value lesson for the week was "Forgiveness."  There were close to 600 professions of faith across the five schools.  

Tuesday was a special day in the school, Canton Las Tunas.  This rural Aguilares schooll has only 190 students; half of them come in the morning and half in the afternoon.  Guillermo, Manuel, Hayden and I visited the school the previous week to see if we could schedule a visit.  The director was very excited to have us and invited all of the students and their parents to come during the morning.  It's always a special privilege to be able to share with the student's parents.  At the conclusion of the classes, we were able to distribute a gift bag full of clothes, school supplies and hygiene items.  The kids and the parents were so excited to receive the gift bags.

What's in a Nickname?

Pastor Julio is preaching a series called "Transformed Identities," which highlights characters in the Bible whose names were changed.  There are the obvious ones we all know like Abram/Abraham and Saul/Paul.  However, not only are there more than I realized, but the reasons for the name change vary and the person doing the name changing might be God, someone else and maybe even the person himself/herself.  I would have completely missed the following trivia question:  

What was Joshua's original name and who changed it?

Answer:  Hosea and Moses.

Last Sunday, Pastor Julio's sermon talked about "nicknames," which are usually loosely based on a person's temperament, character or personality.  A nickname may be an exaggeration, it may be unfair, it may be humorous, but somewhere in the midst of all of that, there is probably a morsel of truth.  Jesus gave Zebedee's sons, James and John, the nickname--Sons of Thunder.  I don't think I'd ever thought about the significance of the name, but Pastor Julio's explanation made it clear the nickname was less than flattering.  In fact, these "hotheaded" brothers needed to change in their identity.    

 Jesus wants us to make a comprehensive change in our identity.  

The sermon caused me to ask the question: What nickname would Jesus give me?

Would it be "wicked and slothful servant" or "good and faithful servant"?
Would it be "one who walks by sight" or "one who walks by faith"? 
Would it be "hearer of the word" or "doer of the word"?
Would it be "proud" or "humble"?
Would it be "lukewarm" or "zealous"?
Would it be "ashamed of the gospel" or "a worker approved by God"?
Would it be "lover of self" or "loves like Jesus"?
Would it be "looks just like her Father?

I found myself asking God's forgiveness because my temperament, character and personality often reveal my sinful nature and cause me to fall short of the new name he wants to give me.  Only by appropriating his grace can I be faithful.

Click HERE to listen to my favorite song on this subject . . . . let God transform your identify so that you can hear him say he is satisfied with you.