Vizcaino 2008

It’s been a while since I’ve written, not due to a lack of things happening, but to a lack of time. Corinne and I are in Vizcaino and though there is no internet (or cell reception) I will be writing some things down as I have time and post them later. I am thankful that we were both able to take a week off of work to help out with the conference taking place down here. Even though this is a working trip I told Bill on the way down here that it almost seems like a vacation as I will only have a few things to focus on, instead of a bunch.

I can’t express the excitement I have that seven of us going on our first “mission” trip here at Genesis just a few months after our getting started. I’m also very excited about the work we are doing down here, as we are coming alongside and helping to encourage those who are already in the battlefield here so that they can continue with renewed strength. It is also building a bridge between these pastors and their ministries, even though they are from various denominations. How fitting that they are going through the book of Philippians where Paul writes to fulfill his joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. I see this trip doing just that it a very tangible way.
The first night we made it to Viz we had a sound check/rehearsal for the worship team and on the way to the meeting hall I found that a box of Xavier Ries mp3 studies in Spanish were going to be given away free to the pastors. Now the reason I mention this is because I had already heard every one of those studies! I didn’t understand any of them of course as they were in Spanish and I am in English, but I really did hear them all. You see I recorded each one of those (on cassette tape!)in the early 80’s when on staff at Calvary Chapel of Alhambra. Now what struck me is not that I recorded them (I actually slept through some of them, especially after the twins were born). No, what struck me was remembering how for years there would only be five or maybe two people who would come to the studies and sometimes NO ONE came at all, but instead of going home early as I had wanted, Xavier would tell me to record them anyway. He had a definite vision that the teachings would be used long after he was through and sure enough, here I am some twenty years later traveling with those same studies that I recorded way back when.

Now, I hope to make this point clear. Jesus told a parable in Matt.21:28-32 about a man with two sons who he asked to work in his vineyard. The one said yes and didn’t and the other said no, but did and Jesus' point was that even tax-collectors and prostitutes who do what the Father desires will make it to heaven before the religious who say the right things, but do nothing. I’m thankful that I was a part of those recordings years ago and even though I may have been asleep, I still am a part of that work. I believe the same is true with this trip in Viz or any work of God we participate in for that matter. We get to be a part of a work that some day may follow us to who knows where, maybe heaven itself. Even though the twelve-hour drive is pretty brutal, the motel is less than a 2 star and there were a few flies (oh man, the flies). Well, long after the roads have all been paved and turned back to dust, the hotel has replaced all the sinks (you will have to stick around to hear that one) and the flies have all gone (good riddance), there will be an eternal work that has taken root in maybe one person's heart that not only changes their world, but the world of everybody around them and though we can take no credit for the eternal work, there is, as it says in Philippians 4, a credit to our account, but we don’t get to chapter four till Thursday.