Pixels for Jesus

Today we are traveling back to the US. I have my final class next week since the timing is so close to Christmas, we are staying for the whole Holiday season. We are very excited, well to be honest, Katie is very excited. I have my final doctoral class and I always approach it with a healthy sense of trepidation.

When we are home, we are going to see our families. We will celebrate the Holidays with them. When we leave, we will all cry, and miss one another because we know what it means. When we say goodbye this time, it will be for a decent amount of time. For all of our family and friends, they have to accept pixels for Jesus.

This saying refers to our relationship with them and theirs with us, especially Hannah. Over the Thanksgiving holiday break, pixels became very important to us. We spoke with family and saw them through an electronic device with their faces displayed by millions of pixels.

These pixels represent a significant sacrifice and heartache for the parents/grandparents. Since we live in another country, their relationship is relegated to pixels. For them, these pixels are pixels for Jesus.

“And he (Jesus) said to them (his disciples), “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”” (Luke 18:29–30, ESV)

These pixels that we see of our loved ones are really for Jesus. So as we visit friends and especially family, my heart really goes out to them because this decision is not theirs. It is ours. The pixels were forced on them. It hasn’t been easy but it is necessary. And we are so thankful that we live in a time that pixels are an option. There have been many who have gone before that the saying would have been parchment for Jesus.

What do you do if you are stuck with in a similar predicament? What do you do if your children or your friend is considering missionary service? These answers will come in a post tomorrow. 

Green Pastures

First day of school

We have now finished our first trimester of school! What does this mean? It means we have a small foundation in Spanish. We can get around town and have some basic conversations. If I need something at a store I can ask someone and they can tell me where it is. Or in the case of this last Sunday, I can visit three stores and a fruit stand to find what I need.

After finishing three stores and the fruit stand, I was waiting for the light to change so I could walk across the street. What this actually means is I wait for it to change, then look to see how many people will run a red light, and then I hurry across the street. Each day is like playing Frogger with your life. 

They just installed new lights which give us less time to cross the street and do not change as fast. Needless to say, for us it was not an improvement even if they have nice new green paint!

So there I was, standing at the street corner contemplating my life. Seriously. As I stood there, I began to quote Psalm 23. I began to say the words slowly in my mind. I only made it two verses before I had to stop. Psalm 23:1–2, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” I couldn’t believe what I just said. I said them again and yes, I quoted them correctly. God is my shepherd and Costa Rica is my green pasture.

It is easy to compare and think about life back in the US. We live in a very small apartment with very large furniture. As I type this there is a large poorly framed and stained picture of a horse on my wall. It is awful. For outside space, we have a small sloping carport which leads to a metal gate with less than smooth surfaces. Needless to say, if we aren’t at a park, we are not outside. In such a short time, we have made some great friends here but we have only known them for several months. Here in Costa Rica, we have no family. In the US, I was able to speak freely and be a pastor. In Costa Rica, I speak like a Kindergartner.

Even with all of that and more, Costa Rica is my green pasture. There is the saying, “Grass is always greener on the other side.” If I try to compare this life to my old life I am not living in the truth that God has placed me here and this is my green pasture. I prefer to change the common saying to “The grass is greener where you water it the most.” When we were putting Hannah down tonight, we were going through our normal routine of reading books. As we were reading, I was thinking about writing this post and I realized that my phone has not rung once during bed time routine since we have been here in Costa Rica.

Last day of the first trimester, notice Hannah wearing the same outfit

For us, Costa Rica has really been a greener pasture. It hasn’t been easy. Navigating a new country, new language, new sicknesses, and all of us being in school is hard. Don’t read it with rose colored glasses, it is hard. Don’t read it with dark lenses, it is also great. We struggle to conjugate verbs and have correct grammar but we see parrots on the way to school. I drink AMAZING coffee for cheap.

A final note of the green pastures for us relates to Latin American relationships. By God’s grace, we have been able to form several friendships here. When we meet with our friends, I naturally want to tell them what we are learning and practice but it doesn’t work like that here. When we meet it takes about 15 minutes or so to tell them how about our family and how we are doing. It is very different for me. They really value relationships here. The most important relationship is family. We are able to get quality family time here. There have been many people who have made that possible by partnering with us so to them we say thank you.