Whole New View

Yesterday was a holiday here in Chile. We have had beautiful late fall weather. It was refreshing to get out of the city and enjoy nature. The summer project students and some of my team went on a hike to El Pochoco. After a steep climb you get rewarded with a whole new view of the central Andes from the summit. They are big! The creation declares the glory of God!
Today on campus I met with Patricio for discipleship. We went to a classroom of freshmen and invited them to our winter conference. Afterwards we ran into one of his classmates. She had just given a talk in her class about world hunger. And it wasn't just homework for her she truly values the needy, working for a social service organization here in Chile that creates jobs for the poor. We started talking about world hunger and ended up talking about the gospel for over an hour. It was great to be able to take her to a few new places where she could begin to gaze into the beauty of God. He is BIG!

"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." Psalm 90

My Heavenly Father

As I think about my dad, all the memories, I am filled with gratitude to my Heavenly Father. There are so many good things, indeed everything comes from Him. And as I think upon the good memories I can't help but recall things I would like to forget. But thank God I am free! Thank you Heavenly Father for the cross where your Son died for my sins and set me free! The wonderful cross, that bids me come and die and find that I may truly live. This love so amazing, so divine, demands my souls deepest affection, my life, my all. Thank You Father, your steadfast love is better than life.

My Dad

I grew up on a farm in southeast Nebraska. As I grew up I was able to do more things and spent more time working with my dad. We would work together in the shop fixing and maintaining the machinery. Listening to Christian radio as we worked was a significant part of how I began to walk with God in the mid 90's. My dad had already laid a foundation in my life by reading the Bible as a family on Sunday mornings when we were kids.

My dad loves music. He plays the guitar and encouraged and taught me to play as well. My dad is a learner. I remember him reading lots of books during the winter when there is a little less work on the farm. He modeled to me the value of reading. My dad and his dad are inspired. When they talk about certain things their eyes will tear up and you can tell that it is more than an idea, but truly inspiring to them. They have shown me to be passionate about things. My dad is fascinated by maps and loves to travel. We would pile in the van as a family every couple of years and take off on a long road trip across the USA, good times. My dad and his dad are faithful men who have loved their wives. My dad is talented and knowledgeable. After many years being a farmer, when God gave him the opportunity to work at the nuclear power plant, he studied hard and passed all the exams to work as an engineer. I am proud of my dad! And thankful for all he taught me and for his love.

My dad loves God and is growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. He has made knowing and following Jesus the main thing in His life.

Dancing In The Streets

On Saturday I spent the afternoon with Chilean students and summer project students. We went to La Moneda, which is like the capital building and went to Bellavista, a part of town with lots of places to hang out. Joel is a project student who happens to be a dance instructor. He surprised the Chileans by inviting them to dance in the street. It was a fun afternoon hanging out with students and building friendships. I had a few of the project staff over for dinner that evening.
Most people aren't dancing in the streets, more like protesting in the streets. Tonight as I went to buy groceries I got a good dose of teargas. Classes are still suspended at USACH and many other schools. Protests will likely continue most of the week. They are usually not too violent. But if they are not authorized by the government the police do break them up with force. They have these big trucks that spray water on the crowd. Chileans call it the guanaco, which is an animal like a llama that spits a lot. Rumor has it that they use sewage water. But I took this foto of them filling up at the fire-hydrant on the corner by my apartment building.
We will have to be extra creative as we try to keep moving forward in establishing a movement during this last month of the fall semester.

Summer Project in Winter

The summer project from the USA arrived last Saturday. And Chilean students gave them an interesting welcome week! The protests have continued to escalate. The major public universities (USACH is one of them) decided to join the high school students in pressuring the government to change the laws that guide education in Chile. This means a strike, with classes canceled most of the week, and probably next week as well.
On Wednesday I was waiting at USACH to welcome the project students. Everything was very normal, and then all of a sudden 1000 high school students showed up and started going nuts. Marco, one of the basketball players, helped me escort the students away from the violence and we were able to get in the back entrance. We had a great day on campus! Meeting students, hanging out and doing a survey about the Codigo Da Vinci. In just over an hour we had 200 students fill out a survey. We gave them a magazine that addresses the fiction and provides the facts about the secret societies, the church and Jesus. It was very interesting to see the different viewpoints of students as we looked through the surveys later that evening. One student wrote, "I am just starting to learn more about Jesus." Another said, "Jesus was just like us, not important." Other expressed their faith in Jesus.
We are also spending time at the private universities. They don't close when there are strikes! Hopefully we can establish student led movements at these campuses next semester from the contacts that we meet through the summer project. Oh, the weather is not all that wintry, but it is definitely not summer in the southern hemisphere.

Following Jesus with my Pañuelos

Pañuelos are the Spanish equivalent to Kleenex. I have used way more pañuelos in the past year than I might like. The subject comes up again today as I am battling my monthly respiratory infection. Being sick one week of every month this year makes me think, what is wrong? While some of my theories and solutions might be interesting, I want to offer a more universal observation. Basically the human spirit is set on having a good life, the best life. We all have our own vision of it. Whether it is considered or largely unconscious, we are in search of the good life. Parenthetically those of us from Nebraska may have a distinct advantage to the rest of the world, since Nebraska is objectively the state of "The Good Life".

This week on campus I asked a lot of students what was most important to them in life? The most common response is family. But one guy this week said health. A unusual response for young people, who usually don't consider that it is hard to enjoy life when you are not healthy. How do you know if you are living the good life? Well you have joy! You are enjoying life!

So here I am this past week, with too many things to get done, and a cold that is slowing me down, and frankly not enjoying life all that much. The weird thing is that when I get exhausted I find it can be harder to go to God. When I don't feel good I think I have this rather strange idea that maybe I can control God by not loving Him until he makes my life better. There are these frequent moments in life when I would rather have my way than have God! Of course God certainly doesn't become any less worthy of my love when my life doesn't go the way I would like it to.

I guess this is all as old as the serpents question, "Did God actually..." For me today it is "God, do you really know what is best for me?" Well if God doesn't know then who does? My own choices in life have shown me that I probably don't know what the good life really is. It makes sense the creator of life knows what is really really good. And it is Him! In a love relationship with God we have the best!

No, I don't think disease is God's best for me, but it does lead me to truly find my joy in what is best. Health is good, God is better.

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
(Psalms 16:11)

Linda, madre linda

This is my beautiful mom, Linda. Linda means beautiful in Spanish. It is hard to even know just how much your mother influences who you are. My mom's unconditional love and pursuit of godliness bless me every day. My mom is compassionate, encouraging, a teacher, a steady doer, interested in culture and merciful to those in need.
My mom taught me to get a job done and done right. Her help and encouragement with all those 4-H projects taught me a variety of skills. Thanks mom! My parents lived in Germany for a few years and my mom also helped place international students with host families in our community. It was cool to get exposure to different cultures as a kid even though we couldn't travel overseas. My mom is compassionate. She worked in special education for several years. She also is constantly making herself available to single mothers or other women who need support. Currently my mom is studying to be more effective in counseling people from a Christ centered perspective. She is a blessing to many many people.

I Love you Mom!

Bomba Lacrimogena revisited

I cried on campus today. The police bombarded the campus with tear gas (bombas lacrimogenas) for several hours. We had planned to have a party on campus today. We are trying a variety of things to see what works and what doesn't to gather students.
For two weeks now there have been protests by students in secondary education because of increasing charge for the PSU (like ACT of SAT) and inefficiency in distributing the transportation ID for low cost transportation. The police showed up at campus to try and disperse the crowd of students with tear gas and other tactics.
Four days in the past two weeks I have showed up to campus to find the main entrance closed. There is always another way in. For the most part we have been able to keep doing things on campus. Today I spent four hours on campus. It was sweet to be able to interact with lots of students. Our exposure of the freshman class and other efforts to get connected on campus are paying off. We are constantly running into students we know.
Schedule seems to be one of the major obstacles. We hope to start a number of groups so students that really want to get involved can find a spot that fits their schedule. These groups, which we call "Punto de Encuentro", will be the basic community where students can build or explore a relationship with God.

Happy Dia Del Trabajador

Well it is the beginning of fall here after all. And what better way to celebrate Labor Day than with a day off work, so you can go downtown and... start a riot, walk around naked with burning flags and destroy stuff. All the action was just two blocks from where I live! "Bomba Lacrimogena" is among the many new words I have been learning here in Chile. Luckily I left early in the morning to climb a mountain with some friends. With a minimum wage of $247 a month clearly there is need for change. Maybe some of the leaders we will influence on campus in Chile in the coming years will help bring change so the workers in Chile can have good jobs and a fair wage. I hope that we can see Matthew 5:16 being realized in this an many other ways.

Polarized

I went to church on Sunday excited to celebrate Jesus' power over death and simply amazed that the God who created everything went to such great lengths to save rebels like us. I can barely get my mind around a group of Christians who don't make mention of the historical reality of His resurrection from the dead after Passover, but that is what happened. This illustrates the tendency to polarize that is part of Chilean culture. Some say the tendency to polarize into one group or another among Chilean's comes from the colonial times and the polarization between indigenous and Spanish people. That makes sense. Not celebrating Jesus' resurrection on the other hand... This effort to not identify with the Catholic church seems to have gone too far.

There are extreme circumstances where the search for and giving of identity happens in society. However I think this search for identity is just as real but more subtle in our ordinary lives. The first question we ask a stranger is often, "What do you do?" Why? Because we think that their line of work will help us identify them. It would be highly irregular to ask, "Who do you love?" But that question would probably help us know the person better. Maybe that question asked as frequently as "What do you do?" would begin to change how a society understands and creates identity. That would be an interesting experiment!

The shocking thing about a church not celebrating the resurrection is that it is the church that should be most given to finding identity in relationships and not work. Our relationship with Jesus should cause us to celebrate Him, and our salvation in Him. Having been reconciled to God by grace not works, this relationship with God is the center of this community, the church. There is plenty of room to celebrate in different ways. But to polarize so much as to not even mention the resurrection on Easter Sunday seems to fail to apply the gospel to life. Being Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal or Evangelical does not give a CHRISTian their true identity. Those titles define the form of religious practice and point to important doctrinal beliefs. And while I love God with my mind by pursuing sound doctrine, I don't think I can love God at all until I am reconciled to Him/identified with Him in love. We love God because He first loved us. The good news is we can know the most wonderful King as our King. Our identity, first and foremost, is in relationship to Him, not in what we know about Him or what task He gives us.
How do we create a movement on campus where the gospel does not isolate us from a culture that is already prone to polarize? By understanding and applying the gospel to our lives! Our good works and our speaking in love are what students will see.

Freshmen

The freshman class is getting the hang of things. Last week was 'semana cachorro' or 'freshman week'. There were lots of activities for the first year students. Thursday between 4000 and 5000 students piled onto 100+ buses for a huge beach party. You can imagine what a all day beach party of freshman and sophomore college students is like. The trip is financed in part by the donations that the freshman gathered as people pitied their mechoneo experience during the first week of classes.
This week we have been tracking down the classrooms of freshmen so they can get to know us. Just before the professor starts class or as he is leaving we take a few minutes to present Vida Estudiantil to students. We invite them to our meeting and English clubs. We also give them a pen and a contact card so they can let us know if they are interested. We are trusting that the follow up of hundreds of interested students will provide opportunity for spiritual conversations and an open door for the gospel.

I'm a pluralist

I sat down to speak with the secretary of the Federacion Estudiantil at USACH. After explaining a few of the things we do and the purpose of Vida Estudiantil he summarized what we are doing with the word 'pluralism'. My first thought was, "That is not a word I would use to describe our work." My second thought, "Fantastic!" Paul said, "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some." As we explain who we aim to serve and what we do it seems that this administrator understood that we want to appeal to everyone. We want to remove all excuses that are keeping people from the truth about Jesus. We are carefully engaging a culture that has embraced pluralism so that they can see the gospel, hear it and believe.
Later that day, Christian, my good friend and teammate met with the president of the federacion. After a month of bureaucratic maneuvers to get a room for our meeting with other administration, this guy offered us the Salon de Honor (the name speaks for itself) for our first meeting. These kinds of experiences are encouraging because we are becoming known as a group that serves students and is a blessing to the campus.

Concepcion

I will be traveling to Concepcion once a month to support the ministry there. Cote, Veronica and Delia are Chilean staff working on 3 campuses in Concepcion.
Yesterday at the Universidad de Concepcion I met Gustavo and Tania. They are first year biology students. They showed me around campus and we talked for about an hour. Later on they came to the Vida Estudiantil meeting. In some ways this is a very small thing, but these simple things are how a movement grows.
Today I will be meeting with the men involved here in Concepcion for discipleship. And we will also have a meeting to equip students leaders to lead a movement on their campus.

Creating and Joining

Last week I started training with the basketball team at the university. Soccer is the undisputed favorite sport of chileans. I don't play much, and fankly was missing a good game a basketball. I told the coach that I wasn't a student, asd was just looking for a good game. He invited me to practice with the team. Besides enjoying basketball I also hope that by joining this community that already exists I can be a blessing and influence in those young mens lives.
Our ministry team is also working to create a community for students. As we meet more and more students each day we are inviting them to English clubs and will also have a meeting every other week for students to come together, have some fun and interact about some topic that relates to what they are facing in life.

Raices

One of the best parts of serving the Lord and people is you get to see people grow and change. This past Saturday we had our first meeting with a group of committed students who's lives are being transformed by the good news that the King of heaven has included us in His kingdom, and gives us everything we need for life and godliness.
Raices (roots) is a time we have each week with students who are committed to bearing fruit as they know and follow Jesus. We want to help them experience the promises that God has made about those who have good roots, getting abundant life from Christ. Our goal is develop mature people who will follow Christ and be effective in accomplishing the commission He gave us. Many of these students have come to Christ in the past year.

God has some sweet promises for the those who trusts in Him:
"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." (Psalm 1:3)
"Abide in me [Jesus], and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

On a fruitful mature life:
So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books. (2 Peter 1:5-9)

Mechoneo

Bienvenidos??? Mechoneo is the official term for the welcome that all first year students get at the university in Chile. This was the first day of classes at the Universidad Santiago de Chile, and the first year students were subjected to all kinds of crazy stuff. The typical thing is to smash an egg in their hair, spray them with water and then put flour and other stuff all over them. They also cut their hair and clothes up, steal their shoes and make them beg for money for a party that they will have at the end of the week. Sometimes it gets extreem. I am not sure how I would feel about it if I was a student. But it seems like it might help them take themselves a little less seriously.
As you walk around campus and talk to students you will find the occasional first year students who decided not to show up to their assigned classes today. However I am not sure that strategy actually works, I think they track you down eventually... What would you do if you knew that you were going to be "welcomed" to campus some time this week?

Opening Doors

There are campuses all over this city. I couldn't begin to tell you where they are at, how many students they have or when we might show up there. Some time in the future we might figure all that out. But for now our team is going to focus our efforts on the Universidad Santiago de Chile (USACH). Not so much on the campus really as on people, on students, reaching lost students and making disciples.
One of my roles on our team is to think about expansion, how we will get to students that are on campuses where there is not a movement of students reaching their peers with the good news about our God who saves.
Yesterday as I sat in the metro waiting to meet someone, I struck up a conversation with a man who was a professor at a growing private school. Today he introduced us personally to the public relations director, who received us very well and put in a good word for us with several other staff at the university.
As I went back home I stopped in a barrio that has a number of larger private schools. At one university I was introduced to the assistant to the president. He was extremely helpful and interested in the possibility of having us serve students on the campus.
These seemingly open doors do not mean that we have to go to these campuses. When someone asks us to come, then we have to go. Pray that the doors continue to open up for us to share Christ.
"Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison-- that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
(Colossians 4:2-4)

First Day

This was the first day our team went to campus. I went to the Universidad Santiago de Chile. I figured out the geography of campus by walking around and praying for the students. Unlike most Chilean universities this one has most of the areas of study grouped together in one major campus. After getting the lay of the land I introduced myself to some students. Juan, Jonathan, Jose and Joanna are second year math students. There were planning the hazing that many first year students go through. We talked for about an hour.
Yesterday was my first full day living in my apartment. I had been praying for direction in reaching the young professionals and others who live in the building of about 400 apartments. God answered that prayer yesterday as I returned from my run along the Maipo river. Pablo was walking down the street, and I asked him about a large business whose headquarters is across the street from the apartment building. From there we ended up spending several hours together and talk about many things, following Jesus, golf, economics, family, the kingdom of God. He knows others who are Christians in the building and is very open spiritually. Pray this would be the beginning of a community of God seekers and Christ followers in this building.

Move In

Moving into an apartment downtown is a surprisingly significant achievement. I am grateful to have a place that is very centrally located for getting to the major campuses in Santiago. Being a block and a half from the metro is a plus.
The process of finding a place and getting moved in has been much more challenging that I had expected. Learning about the different areas in Santiago, figuring out how to utilize websites and newspapers, getting a cell phone to communicate... Finding the place took me about two weeks. Then I spent another week getting the papers, securing a co-signer and getting his papers together. Getting the contract signed and then getting the keys took a few more days. Moving in has taken a few more days.
Along the way I have been surprised by the culture shock that I have experienced. I have had to adjust my expectations. Things will be more difficult, move slower and require more effort than I think they should.
Being in a new place means I am around new people. I am praying for opportunities to bring the blessing of the gospel to people around me where I live. And I am thankful for God's provision.

Following Jesus

A Christian is a follower of Jesus. But I think we see a lot of Christianity that is at best an attempt to follow Jesus' example. However you can´t really do that unless you love Him in an intimate, relational, joyous way. Without really wanting to we define our Christian faith by a very small subset of things Jesus does and goals that our church or mission organization helps us take on.
Jesus did everything the Father gave Him to do and spoke what the Father gave Him to speak. And He did it so that the Father would be glorified. (John 14) We can´t really follow Jesus and try to follow His example if we won´t love God with all we are. I can´t follow Jesus unless I experience Him personally today and want to be with Him, love Him, obey Him, and bring Him honor and glory with all I am. Thankfully He gave us the Spirit to help us do just that. The promise is that He will teach us and empower us to be witnesses of Jesus. What do you see Jesus doing today? The greatest adventure ever, seeing and following Jesus!