GOD ALWAYS HAS PEOPLE TO HELP THOSE IN NEED
Friday, George and Bonnie brought several winter servants that live and serve at the Rio Grande Bible Institute to come and help us finish the house we have been building for the "Twins" in Reynosa. We had a lot of work to do, but as the old saying goes, " many hands makes little work". We had the rafters and the roof on before lunch and the porch, trim and finishing touches were all done by 3:30. We shared the Love of Christ with the family in a very practical way, by meeting their needs. The group from RGBI shared about how they love to come to Texas and serve, instead of Wasting their lives playing shuffle board, square dancing and finding a cheap place to eat. They understand that giving of themselves, for the benefit of others, is what God created them to do. We had an informal dedication so the family could sleep in the new house, until next week, when we hope to have some people from Church join us and have an official dedication. We bought them two new beds so they didn't have to sleep on the floor until next week. and we will bring everything from curtains to diapers to bless the family even more, before Victor carries his bride across the threshold of their new home. While we were building the house, Paula and the girls prepared 150 bags of food for yesterdays outreach. Again George and Bonnie showed up at our house at 7:00 am with two more people, Stan and His wife that are training and learning Spanish at RGBI to become Missionaries to a Spanish speaking Nation. We headed back to Mexico to hand out the food and juice boxes for the kids, along with notebooks, pens and paper for the older kids in school. We sang praises to God and had a brief message before all 158 families recieved their food and headed home. George and Stan handed out suckers to all the kids as they left. A few families stayed behind for prayer, one women has cancer, another had asked for prayer for her entire family that is sick with the flu. On the down side of ministry to the poor, we had bought a house back from a family that needed to move and we moved a single Mom in there to live as long as she needed, rent free and we heard yesterday, that she sold the house to someone else. Even though it wasn't her house to sell and after all the help we had given her, we couldn't help but feel used by her. Oh well God knows! Caleb had His fourth birthday last week and we had a "Cars" pinata made for him and Paula made Chicken and mole'. We didn't get home until 4 in the afternoon and then Rick and Diane took us out to dinner. I had to go and meet the POWER team in Hidalgo, Tx at 11 o'clock last night to pick up over 300 bibles and tracts they had for me. They have spent two weeks ministering all along the border. Google POWER MINISTRIES and see the great things they do. Today they have a carnival at an orphanage in Reynosa for the kids.
TEMPERAL VS ETERNAL
Just where is it that we find our meaning and purpose in this life? What drives you? What gets you out of bed everyday? Where do you want to spend your retirement years, and what will you do when you get there? How much is enough when God asks you to give money to help a poor family? How much time do we spend at the feet of Jesus? How much time do I spend waiting in line at the border crossing praying? How is your so called life going? How are these little babies we just built a house for going to survive in the colonia? How is it, I get so caught up in busyness that I don't take special time with my wife? How is it that after we shared the gospel with the family that helped us all week we didn't close the deal and left? I don't know why I put all these questions in here and I could ask a thousand more, but the one of the most important questions I could ask is DO YOU KNOW HIM? I mean really know Him? As Paul asked, and the power of His Resurrection?
EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE, ALAN
Have you ever gone to work and the work you planned on doing was already done? Well, without a group to help us build the "TWINS" house, I got to the colonia around ten this morning, thinking about just cutting some of the wood for the walls and maybe assembling the rafters and then a few people from Calvary were going to help on Thursday and Friday. Lo and behold, Carmelo and 3 other guys, from the colonia, had two walls up, the rafters all assembled, and the family next door was busy painting the wood while Elizabeth took care of the twins. God showed up! I strapped on my tool belt and before long, all four walls were up and I was saying my goodbyes, because Rick Caywood was with me and had to go pick up a load of rice and bring some back to the warehouse before he heads to El Paso with a half a load of rice and a half a load of beans tomorrow.Rick really wanted to see the colonia where God has placed us for the last four years and where most of the beans and rice he and his partners donate goes. The sign on our Ministry House reads " EVERYDAY HOLDS THE POSSIBILITY OF A MIRACLE" (Thanks Georgia) and today was one of those days. If all goes well, we might be able to dedicate the house on Saturday, but we would sure like to invite some people from our church that made this MIRACLE HOUSE happen, so we might give them the house and dedicate it next week. We stopped at least ten times driving thru the colonia to hand out bags of rice and corn that were supposed to be handed out on Saturday, but maybe God provided their miracle today as well. Last night, we had 12 missionaries come over for dinner. Two bush pilots, a flight instructor and his wife, a missions trucker, the directors of Mexico Missions Phil and Marrianne, the Balmers, part time/ full time missionaries, two missionaries on this side of the border, and us. If I'd known we were going to have a missions conference, I would have called a few more. The stories were unending and we all shared a little bit about how God moved us to where we all were and how faithful God is. All of us are humbled at how God provides for all of our ministries, so why not adopt a missionary this week and be part of what God is doing around the world? If serving Jesus on this side of heaven is so absolutely awesome, what will heaven be like?
GOD IS OUR STRENGTH
You know you have had a full day, when you rush to meet a concrete truck in Mexico in the morning, and then get a call that another load of beans will be arriving at your house in the afternoon, followed by a wonderful dinner and some very welcomed guests. The foundation is poured and the family is painting the wood with some help from the neighbors. Rick and Diane Balmer from the Carpenters Crew have set up their fifth wheel camper trailer in our yard, and will be here for at least a month before their teams arrive at the end of Feb. They are always such a blessing to have around and they are a tremendous help to us, and Dianes' Mom is staying in our camper for a few weeks( we have room inside, but Francis likes the feel of camping). We returned in time to unload some of the beans before Gator Carter of Big Heart Orphanage in Reynosa came by and stayed for dinner. We had taken up an offering for him last week and hadn't had the chance to give it to him, so he came for the money and left with a full stomach as well. He lost a son to suicide a year ago and had a kidney transplant 6 weeks ago, so don't complain about the little trail you find yourself in, it could be worse! He has such a great faith and God has really done a wonderful thing through these tests of faith. More beans in the warehouse and Ricks new truck is sitting in our yard right now. Rick Balmer and me will go with Rick Caywood to San Benito in the new rig to drop off some beans at the Curves warehouse and Phillip has some new donated mattresses for us to give away. We hope to back before noon and go to Mexico and start cutting the wood for the "twins' house. Being so busy is really quite invigorating, kingdom work always gives us strength as we see God doing so many different things at once, and as long as we say YES. we get blessed.
CALVARYS' HEART TO MEET NEEDS BEYOND THE BORDER
When the Cross Seekers ABF class told us they were applying for a matching amount of the two thousand dollars they had raised, from the Radical Matching Fund Project, Paula and I started the process of seeking a family to receive Gods wonderful provision of a new house. We met Victor and Elizabeth last month, when we handed out food and gifts at our monthly outreach in the Colonia Nopalera in Reynosa, MX. They have a 13 year old daughter Estrella, a ten year old Aracili, a son Ray who is five and two precious twins Jose' Alejandro and Jose' Alberto who are two months old. I call them Jos A and Jos B. The whole family lives in a 1 room house, no bigger than a king size bed and a little storage space for their stuff. They are absolutely ecstatic about the new house. We will have more pictures to share this week when we build the house, Thursday and Friday. If anyone is interested in coming to Reynosa and helping in the building of this house , please call or E-mail. All skill levels are welcome. Scroll through older posts to see other projects we have been involved in as we seek to live radically before our King. I spent Friday with about 90 men from all over the country at a bible school in Matamoros, Mx as the Power Ministry team moves from town to town along the border with various building and ministry projects, being the hands and feet of Jesus, touching lives wherever they go, including mine. Thanks Guys for the invite.
MORE YESES GETS GOD TO BLESS US
It only took a few people to say YES to get the addition built on our Ministry House in the colonia. When Alan and Lynnea said YES, we were well under way to get the whole addition built while they were here. As Paula finished up painting the inside today, Carmelo and I were taking the cement blocks for the foundation to Victor and Elizabeth's lot, where we will build the house provided by a family that said YES and a matching fund from our church. We also took several different sizes of diapers to some needy families, including Elizabeth's twin boys. A solar system was paid for by some people at church that said YES to Jesus to get involved with our efforts helping the poor, so I purchased and delivered the kit to a very grateful man named Pablo, who volunteered to help us build the house next week for Victor and Elizabeth. We also told the local tea totalers, or Barrachos ( drunks) that we would be helping Cecilio and buy the materials to finish the block house that he had been building for quite some time. They are all friends and will help build it. It was a real joy to bless these "outcasts" with building materials and a solar power system. They couldn't believe that God would bless them so abundantly, but isn't that just like Jesus to want to express his love for these guys and provide for them. We ended the day giving out several bags of corn and large cans of fruit and a few water barrels on the way out of the colonia.
THE YES GETS BLESSED
Now I don't care what God tells you to do, or how crazy or radical it seems, just do it. This morning we had a whole group of people here that are personally involved in feeding the poor, and we all realize how truly blessed we are to be part of Gods plan to feed the hungry. You see, Jesus could send down food from heaven right now and end world hunger, just like He provided for the Israelites in the desert for forty years. But He has mandated everyone that calls themselves a "Christian" to feed them, thereby getting the Glory from our obedience. When the disciples told Jesus that the multitudes, that were on hand to hear Jesus speak were needing food, Jesus told the disciples " You feed them". They said it would take a whole years wages to feed such a crowd, when a boy full of faith stepped up and said I have 5 loaves of bread and two fish, and Jesus blessed it and there was plenty to feed everyone. The boy said YES with all he had and Jesus blessed it. A farmer named Joe Warner in Onida, South Dakota said YES to God and now we have a warehouse full of beans and corn, Green Thumb Commodities bagging company in Oldham S.D. said YES to God and all the beans are bagged and stacked on pallets, Rick Caywood Ministries said Yes to God and we drove almost three thousand miles in His truck to get the beans with money provided by people that said YES from Michigan to pay for the fuel. Rusty and Teresa Ruppert own the Wildlife Inn in Taylor Nebraska and said Yes to Jesus when asked to give me back half of the nights room rent because we help the poor and they love Jesus too. When faithful people send our ministry checks to support our work here they are all saying YES LORD. Everyone that has anything to do with feeding the poor ,WILL BE BLESSED, that is Gods promise, and God is NOT a man that He should lie. Just while eating breakfast before unloading the beans, Paula shared about an orphanage that was hurting financially and now we have several thousand dollars to bless them with because we said YES. Why would NO be an option when we see God do so much with our YES!!! WITHOUT FAITH, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD, AND FAITH WITHOUT ACTION IS DEAD.God bless everyone that had a part in this years drive for the beans. 150 bags have already gone out the door to an orphanage and feeding program in Reynosa. Rick left after we unloaded his truck and he's headed home to buy a brand new semi tractor that will cost another YES man 150 thousand dollars. There is someone coming to look at our other house for sale today and I pray that they say YES, so we can YES to whatever Jesus would have us to do with the money from the sale. YES LORD YES LORD YES YES LORD, have you ever sung that in church? Have you ever said YES LORD to whatever He asks, no matter the cost? It is such a trip, and truly does bring unspeakable joy when you do and nothing compares to saying YES.
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