Bumps in the night

After sufficient whining to the Lord, he finally gave me a response! Hold on for a moment and I’ll tell you what he said.

I’m extremely grateful that he didn’t do to me what he did to the Israelites with all their incessant complaining, a la Numbers 11.

I was up several times during the night really talking with him, complaining, whining, threatening, insisting, pleading — you get the picture. On three separate occasions, like a child who wants something but his dad isn’t giving him the answer he wants, I came running back to him: “Com’ on Dad…, Please Dad…, But Dad…, Why not Dad…, I want it Dad…, Hey, it isn’t even for me…” etc.

Nothing!

Then the dreaming started — uncomfortable. Woke up with a strong sense that he’d been trying to tell me something, or at least trying to get my attention. So, waking, I grabbed my One Year Bible and picked up the reading for the day. Bam! Bingo! Hello?!

The people fell to grumbling over their hard life. God heard. When he heard his anger flared; then fire blazed up and burned the outer boundaries of the camp…The riffraff among the people had a craving and soon they had the People of Israel whining, “Why can’t we have meat?…nothing tastes good out here…Moses heard the whining, all those families whining in front of their tents. God‘s anger blazed up. Moses saw that things were in a bad way. Moses said to God, “Why are you treating me this way? What did I ever do to you to deserve this?…If this is how you intend to treat me, do me a favor and kill me. I’ve seen enough; I’ve had enough. Let me out of here

Sheesh! Do I see something familiar here?

Get ready for tomorrow when you’re going to eat meat. You’ve been whining to God, ‘We want meat; give us meat. We had a better life in Egypt.’ God has heard your whining and he’s going to give you meat. You’re going to eat meat. And it’s not just for a day that you’ll eat meat, and not two days, or five or ten or twenty, but for a whole month. You’re going to eat meat until it’s coming out your nostrils. You’re going to be so sick of meat that you’ll throw up at the mere mention of it. And here’s why: Because you have rejected God who is right here among you, whining to his face, ‘Oh, why did we ever have to leave Egypt?’

I’m beginning to feel a little restless by the time I get to this part and am even already beginning to apologize to the Lord for my actions—my whining—during the night. At that moment I come across verse 23:

God answered Moses [Joe], “So, do you think I can’t take care of you? You’ll see soon enough whether what I say happens for you or not.”  

You ever get the feeling that you went too far, crossed over a line that you shouldn’t have crossed?

As a child you tend to see the dictator in your dad more than you do the love and you tend to be proactive in response to the dictatorial by altering your behavior. When the love suddenly shows up, when you expected the rod, it really catches you off guard. You’ve broken the rule, disobeyed, acted up and know you’re going to be punished; instead, dad does the unexpected and shows how strong his love for you really is.

That’s what I understood from my reading — instead of zapping me into burnt hamburger, Dad is going to take care of things, just so I’ll know how much he loves me.

Not what I expected. Certainly not what I deserve.

I’m excited!

Strike nullified by ump!

It is still technically a fast ball on the inside corner, a strike — Osmildo will not be moving to Ubaúna as a full-time church planter — but our home team is hotter than a firecracker on the fourth of July!

Marclei, a church planter in Fortaleza who is seeing explosive growth in the church he’s planted, stated today:

Concerning the construction here [in Ubaúna], you can count on my total support. It will be my pleasure to serve the church in Ubaúna, as well as Gospel for Brasil. I want you to be able to arrive in July and walk into this new building in the name of Jesus!!!

Valdimário sent an email and stated:

Brother, we are totally available to do everything in our power for the church in Ubaúna. Absolutely count on us. Just tell us how we can help, and we will!

We may not understand what is going down, but the Coach does!

Proposed Layout

1 strike, 1 foul ball

Been biting my fingernails in anticipation of news from “down south.”

Are you up for some baseball imagery? Today I receive two pitches across the plate.

First pitch was from Osmildo, the fellow we were hoping would be our full-time evangelist: he has decided NOT to take the position. Strike one! [Ok, coach, what do we do now?]

Second one was fouled into the left field bleachers: the contractor has made his trip to the site where the building is to be built, has made initial plot drawings, has gotten material costs and is now preparing the quote. Got some wood on the ball and are antecipating the next pitch.

The crowds are going wild! How about joining us in the cheering? Com’ on coach, put the big hitter in!