another day in the life...

Well time flies by here in Costa Rica...this past week was the official 6 month mark of being here! I can hardly believe that it's been 6 months since I said good-bye to everyone back home. It seemed to sound like forever when I told my team in Mexico it was still going to be yet another year till my arrival to work with them...but now I have less than six months until I will arrive in Mexico City to begin working there. I am really getting excited...I know the time will fly, and I know God still has many thing to shape and form in me in the time remaining here...and Spanish is one of many things God is working on!

Yesterday in chapel we had a guest speaker from the Southern Baptist's seminary...he is giving a class here on Missions to a few who needed to take it. He spoke on Psalm 121 and the type of God we serve and who cares for us. It was a very good message. Last night I was reading through some past entries from my first weeks here and I found this Psalm mentioned many many times, as I sought it for comfort and security in a totally new place and culture. It's funny that after we grow accustomed to things, we then think we don't need that same God as much as we did before. This week has been a good reminder and lesson in how much I still need God now as much as ever before. The speaker yesterday told us that Jesus loves us not for any merits or works we can do, not because we are serving him, not even because we are giving our lives as missionaries or servants of God, but merely because HE LOVES US....with a love that is beyond all comprehension. Lately I've felt a bit weighed down for many reasons, and just burdened...almost like starting the cultural shock all over again...a second wave has hit me recently...and yesterday at hearing those words that Jesus loves us with a love we cannot comprehend, it was like a weight being lifted....I don't have to try to be perfect or the super missionary every day (I'm laughing at that!) but rather I just have to continue to yield myself to God and let him use me and mold me, and take security, once again, in the fact that he loves us under no condition...just unconditional love.

Here is Psalm 121:

Psalm 121
The LORD the Keeper of Israel.
A Song of Ascents.

1I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
3He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.


Salmos 121
Cántico de los peregrinos.

1 A las montañas levanto mis ojos;
¿de dónde ha de venir mi ayuda?
2 Mi ayuda proviene del Señor,
creador del cielo y de la tierra.
3 No permitirá que tu pie resbale;
jamás duerme el que te cuida.
4 Jamás duerme ni se adormece
el que cuida de Israel.
5 El Señor es quien te cuida,
el Señor es tu sombra protectora.
6 De día el sol no te hará daño,
ni la luna de noche.
7 El Señor te protegerá;
de todo mal protegerá tu vida.
8 El Señor te cuidará en el hogar y en el camino,
desde ahora y para siempre.

And here's a closing thought: We know we have the Holy Spirit of God living inside us, and the Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus, who was sent by God the Father, so in order to destroy, Satan has to destroy the triune Godhead. Amazing, isn't it!

Hope you all have a good weekend!