Heal Our Streets and Land

Build Your kingdom here

Let the darkness fear

Show Your mighty hand

Heal our streets and land

Set our church on fire

Win this nation back

Change the atmosphere

Build Your kingdom here

We pray

Song lyrics by Rend Collective Experiment

We sang this song in church this morning and I was really touched by it as it describes our country today. America is in total chaos. I am appalled by all the news reports of complete disregard for America and what it stands for. Tearing down statues of our history, removing the cross and Bible from a chapel on a university campus in Oklahoma (in America’s heartland!), ambushing our public safety workers, even bullying and bashing those who don’t believe what some think is the only way. Dear Lord, win your country back from the forces of evil. OK – now I am off the soap box, but I urge you to pray for God’s healing and restoration in our country.

We did not go to the colonias this last Friday as the fear of what was to come from Hurricane Harvey to our area. Also, the fact that Brenda, who so diligently serves to distribute the food from her yard was in the hospital with a kidney stone. Please pray that the stone passes without any surgery.

We were prepared for Harvey as our park manager left the hall area open for our safety if needed. All of the gates were open in case we had to evacuate. Needless to say, we were not affected at all. Friday brought some funny clouds and strange looking sky, but after that it was clear and sunny. Not even a drop of much needed rain. Please keep all of those in your prayers as Harvey is still creating havoc in the Houston area. Many folks without any homes, no place to go, no electricity or water. And shame on those who are gouging the residents for the needed supplies. One store was charging $99 for a case of bottled water. Satan is alive and well in this world today in the form of greed. The city of Rockport is totally demolished. Believers in Christ have faith and hope and know that out of this tragedy comes healing and restoration. Because we have faith we truly believe that – even though during the troubled times it is hard to be strong. Good gives us the strength and tool to get through trials and tribulations.

The sky s Harvey was in the Gulf before going ashore - we got some wind and only a spit of rain

                                          

dark clouds is all we saw 

as Harvey came ashore the following day, we had sun

no indication of the devastation farther up the coast line

   

Loaded a kitchen stove this afternoon that was donated to a family in need of one. Sort of a large almost industrial stove but the lady was so very happy. God finds and need, but He also provides.

                                               

a donated stove going to a well deserved family

Last in the series of church clichés this morning is “Only God can judge me”.  Is love always encouraging?? To love someone is to accept them just as they are. There is a difference between love and encouragement. Sometime love discourages.  Matthew 7:1-5 seems to indicate that God makes the final judgement. Do not judge or you will be judged. Do you realize that we receive the same judgement that we give? You need to take the splinter out of your eye first in order to judge with caution. How you judge will then be dealt out to you. Don’t judge according to appearances, judge with righteous judgement. Sit back and get a full picture of the issue first – take the splinter out of your eye.  You also need to judge with clarity. If you cannot see well, you make mistakes. Get yourself together first before you try to get someone else together. Judge with comparison – you will be judged as you judge others. Recognize the brokenness first, seeing the beauty beyond the brokenness. Judge and accept judgement with gentleness. We all have logs in our eyes – without Christ we cannot see clearly.

Continue to pray for all of those in distress as a result of Harvey. Do not judge actions until you know what the reasons for the actions were.

Graduation

This has been an extremely exciting week for CHI as well as Paty and us. Paty has graduated from high school and been enrolled in college to become a lawyer. She was so very excited, almost beside herself. She questioned Malena, the Mexican director of CHI all week, asking if we were going to be there. Malena put her off as long as possible and had to finally admit that we were going to attend her graduation ceremony. We were the only ones, along with Betsy Chicon, American director, and Bob Steele, Chairman of the Board who attended from the American side. It is really quite dangerous to travel to Reynosa, as the battling cartels are becoming much more disruptive and unpredictable in their struggle to become the dominant drug lords. It is easier for Betsy to keep track of just one van and a few people rather than numerous vehicles and lots of folks. We saw no problems whatsoever – if we did not know that there was danger it seemed like a lovely quiet day in Reynosa. Until things settle down a bit, CHI won’t allow any teams or large groups of people to travel to Reynosa even though CHI vans are highly regarded there. Lots of good work to be done on the American side of the border.

It was a truly nice ceremony with many graduates – some from the special accelerated high school (Paty’s class), to those only taking Saturday lessons (mostly older folks getting advanced degrees) and of course, the college graduates. Two of the Tias from the refuge as well as our Canadian intern, Alex, were also in attendance for this wonderful day. Paty’s mother, along with Paty’s two sisters, Lupe and Sonia, who we previously sponsored, were there. It was a bittersweet time, as we saw the girls again after few years, sad because they did not stay at the home to continue their education. Lupe left two years ago and now has a son, Sonia left 4 years ago and is now pregnant, due in November. Our hearts breaks for these lovely girls whose life could have been so much different. They seem happy and were really glad to see us, just as we were to see them.

Part of Paty's entourage

                   Three sisters - Lupe, Paty, and Sonia

this is the school where Paty graduated from and also the college where will attend college


a bit nervous before graduation

receiving her diploma

she looks so proud

a great accomplishment for Paty - she has to really study hard


Her mother is equally proud

she looks great

Malena and Betsy - all are so proud


Paty's cheering squad -

After the ceremony, a few of us went to eat in Reynosa at VIPS, sort of the Mexican equivalent of Denny’s. We needed Betsy to translate for us, and after hard decisions were made, we placed our order. The food was absolutely excellent – true Mexican food and not the Tex-Mex that is served here in the states. We were all so very full, but as this was Paty’s special day, she ordered strawberry cheesecake. The waitress brought it with a handful of spoons – thinking Paty was going to share. Nope – no way was Paty going to let any else enjoy her special dessert We all laughed at that, as we did not want to anyway.

we gave Paty a pearl necklace - her birthstone

                                  fresh fruit - my favorite - I could have had cottage or yoghurt on it also

 

my selection - sort of an egg and veggie plate, so very good

Paty loves meat

every dish was different - we should have just tasted from each of them!

leaving VIPS fully satisfied

Paty back at her Casa with the flowers from her family

We got a call this week as someone had some love seats and recliners they wanted to donate. These were not new, some needed a bit of cleaning, so we said we would take them. As we were delivering the produce Friday prior to picking up the furniture, we mentioned thy we had more pickups to do. Brenda, whose property the Caring Hearts Ministry building is on mentioned that she need a couch. God is so amazing - He knew before we did that someone was just waiting for the new to them couch.  Ida took the rest of them, as she will soon hear of others who need them. God works that way!!!

We discussed another church clichés in this morning’s service. “God needed another angel”. No matter what people think, Christians do die. Death is a reality. God needed another angel seems to indicate that God took our loved one from us for His own purposes. Does the Bible really say that?? Of course not. Could God have saved that loved person if He chose to do so?? Death disturbs us – our lives are no longer shared with that person. What we try to do to those who are disturbed by death is to give them a sense of calmness and peace. Death also disturbs God. When Lazarus died, God wept. Death disturbs God’s plan which was in the beginning that we did not die. The wages of sin are death – because we (and Adam and Eve) sin, we die. Why are we grieving someone God could have saved? We don’t know why. God did not take your loved one so it is ok to be sad, angry, or confused. God is crying too because it was also His son or daughter who died.

I often wonder what words I can use to console someone who lost a loved one – what if I say the wrong thing, or make that person more sad or angry? The best policy I have found is to quietly say I am sorry for your loss and let that person do the talking.

Beautiful Rain

We had beautiful rain this week – it was very cooling as the temps were 100 or over all week. Thunder started rumbling in the background with promise of rain – pretty soon it came down in buckets. You could almost hear the ground drinking it up – the plants raised their heads to feel the moisture on their leaves, and all of Gods creation said thank you.

We have the whistler ducks here in the park – really a lot more than we have ever had. This last week we began to hear strange noises – noises that we never heard before. Fred thought it was some machinery in the flea market next door, but since I had been out walking I knew the answer finally. It was the whistlers – they produce a shrill whistling sound that lasts for quite a few seconds. It is weird that we have been in the park for so long and never heard it before. The baby whistlers of earlier days are almost as big as their mamas now – almost impossible to tell them apart while they are in the water We do have a new batch of youngins though -  little clones of their parents waddling down to the lake,

Hopefully these picture from last week will post – I wish the blog program was not so touchy. In addition to all these fruits the veggies are so plentiful – actually not grown here in the Valley as it is between growing seasons right now, but so very fresh and reasonable – cauliflower, tiny sweet peppers, burpless cucumbers, big green bell peppers, sweet cherry tomatoes to name a few.

the funny looking fruit on the bottom left is the dragon fruit from last week

 dragon fruit cut open - strange looking but really good - kiwi like taste

The distribution that was scheduled for Saturday was postponed until Sunday as the rain made the distribution area quite muddy. The Thursday before he distribution, we went to the church to deliver all the bags of rice and beans in preparation for the distribution. Ida was there with an amazing group from Lake Pointe Church in Lakewall, Texas (near Dallas) was there to help pack all the canned goods, rice, beans, cereal and everything else that was donated. They were a fun group and worked hard to make sure things were ready for Saturday. They were going to attend on Saturday and hep out, but because of the cancellation until Sunday and their time schedule, they attacked another church project on Saturday and left for home on Sunday A huge thank you for all of their help.

boxes of rice and beans

packingaon an assembly line

the stacks don't seem to be going down

do we have anymore bags?

busy as bees

Sunday promised to be a great day – thank you Lord for providing a cool breeze as the temps were again 100 or so. We arrived around 9:30 – the festivities were supposed to begin at 10. Lo and behold, folks stated arriving around 8 AM!!! Miss Opal came along with us with her faithful sewing machine set-up so she could demonstrate machine quilting and perhaps sign up a few ladies for Monday classes. 8 ladies signed up (including a few younger gals) which really excited Miss Opal. She is all ready to begin in September – the ladies will be finishing quilts for the quilt tops that were donated to us, and then go on to make quilts and/or other sewing projects for themselves, including clothing. God gave Miss Opal the gift of sewing so she could help others serve others while raising their own self-esteem.  

 Miss Opal setting up by herself - she is almost 79 - we have learned to let her do it her way

demonstrating machine quilting - the ladies seemed to be very interested

The distribution was such a well-organized event. The members of the church congregation had so much under control, we had little to do, except enjoy the happiness all around There was an inspiring children’s sermon given by Glenn and Helen Nations- an interactive one so all the kids could be involved. All of it was based on following the Lord with ice cream somehow woven into the theme. Afterwards, everyone got to enjoy homemade ice cream from the Nations. There was face painting, snow cones, audience participation, gospel music, and lunch of hot dogs, chips, drinks, and of course, ice cream. We again had bags of non-perishables for everyone – lots of beans, rice, cake mixes, canned good, salad dressing, - whatever we had accumulated for this event. And because of the generous donations of people, we again had lots of clothing for everyone to choose from. It was such a fulfilling day that when we returned home, we both just crashed!

 waiting for the festivities to begin

 drinks of all kinds

 a cute kittie

 Glen and Helen talking about the apostles and ice cream - all in the same sentence

 young ears listening intently

 the theme of the day was the rainbow - God's promise to mankind - so I decided  rainbow face paint was appropriate

 singing praises to God

                                                                              hot dogs for everyone

 face painting lines

 snow cones anyone - the ladies loved my rainbow painting, so guess I started a trend - and yes I did indulge in snow cones - coconut and lime

 could possibly be the first snow cone they ever had

 it got pretty quiet as everyone was eating

 bags packed on Thursday

 we even had tomatoes left from Friday's produce distribution

 clothes shopping - Ropa style - lots of clothing for everyone

 Cy - the gentleman who took over for us while we were gone also teaches the ladies how to crochet - some of his creations

 boxes packed - plenty for all with extra if needed

there were even school supplies to be handed out according to grade

Today’s sermon continued with “God helps those who help themselves”. Does the Bible really say that?? This saying is often heard when there is financial distress in someone’s life. In other words, get busy, pull yourself up, and God will help you. Does it mean God will help you if….God will provide if….?  God helps us with no strings attached. This saying actually comes from Benjamin Franklin. In Biblical times, widow women had no rights – they could not own property, no means of support. If they had no sons, they were truly destitute. I Timothy 5:3-8 instructs people of that time period on how to treat widows. It encourages everyone to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. Scripture often tells us that God helps people. He equips people with gifts – like preaching, teaching, hospitality, healing, passion, and in Miss Opal’s case, sewing. God takes care of us so why does He equip us??? Why doesn’t He just take care of things Himself?? He equips us because of grace – doing something for someone that they cannot do for themselves. In other words, God helps those who CANNOT help themselves. He equips people to help others. We are all blessed to be a blessing to others.  We are put in place to help others – just at the right place and at the right time.

Help someone this week – something simple like opening a door for them, helping them carry large items, even help an elderly person put their groceries in their vehicle You will be blessed.