Big Dreams
How suffocating it can be to live within the boundaries of human ability. when we confine our thinking to the limitations of what is known, what we have experienced or what we are able to imagine, the mental playing field is relatively small.
When you have captured God's vision for your ministry, one of your first reactions will be, But that's ridiculous; we could never do that. If you persist, though, and conclude that this is what He is calling you to do, often you will recognize that His dreams are bigger tan yours and that they call for you to expand the size of your mental playing field to accommodate His vision.
Great power can result from dreaming big. Such vision implies a long-term approach to ministry. Many leaders suffer from having constantly to rethink their vision because it is so small that they accomplished it quickly, or because it was so insignificant that it barely seemed worth the effort. God's vision for your life, though, is grand. His vision is not one you are likely to accomplish in a year or two. A few Christian visionaries have learned that once you catch His vision, it will outlive you. Your role is to grasp it, to articulate it and to ensure that it is acted upon. Your responsibility is not to see it come to a conclusion. Work toward that end, but do not feel incomplete if it s not fully accomplished in your lifetime. Simply being part of making that vision become a reality will seem like a sufficient reward.
Dream big, through God's enablement, is also one means of allowing the church to see and to reflect God's power and majesty. His desire are so much better and more meaningful than our own that when we envision them and fully support them, the spiritual and emotional empowerment is incredible. people become genuinely excited over the grand possibilities. The magnitude of the task is dwarfed by the realization that He wants to do it, and He intends to make it happen through you.
(taken from "The Power of Vision" by George Barna. pg. 96&97)
These statement are very true and should be followed in order not to limit God to what we know or imagine...
GOD BLESS
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thanksgiving in Peru!
I never thought that I would be celebrating Thanksgiving in another country! But here I am in Piura Peru getting ready to sit down and eat a Thanksgiving Turkey cooked just for me, because I am from America and we celebrate Thanksgiving there so the family that I am staying with does not want me to miss out on the celebration. I guess that it is also a good excuse for a party! Latin American countries love to party and I don't blame them. Where else can you get together with all of your best friends and family to talk and laugh all night long...?
I will update with a few pictures promptly after finishing the celebrations. I hope that Thanksgiving is going great to all of you back home in the States...
GOD BLESS....
I will update with a few pictures promptly after finishing the celebrations. I hope that Thanksgiving is going great to all of you back home in the States...
GOD BLESS....
Monday, November 19, 2007
Juarez (Huancabamba) Bathroom Project
Greetings to all! I am now back in Piura, Peru where I will be living for the next two or three months. I am staying in the house of Roberto Castillo who is my contact here in Peru. Roberto lives in McDonough Georgia with his wife Mindy and two girls Carol Anne and Emily. In August of this year I was privledeged to come to Peru with his family and my brother Eli. We went all around the area of Piura on a "scouting" trip to see what type of work could be done to help poor people. What we found was two main things.
Most people do not have access to clean water and almost all people who live in the desert region have to walk in excess of two kilometers to obtain water that is still not clean and they must also pay for it. I guess that is how it is when you live in a desert and your government cannot afford to drill public wells and has to charge money for the water that you do have. The second thing that we discovered, was that almost every family lacked the knowledge or ability to practice any type of sanitation. Conditions throughout the region were beyond terrible and very very poor. Peru is known to be the second or third poorest country of South America next to Bolivia and Columbia.
We visited many areas in August and I documented as much as I could about each individual community. We found one village in the mountains in the region of Huancabamba called Juarez which CUBIT decided to do work at, and is where I have been for the past several days arranging a project to build bathrooms. Brad Charles, the president of the CUBIT Foundation accompanied me on the trip and we were able to get much accomplished. When we arrived, we discovered that there was a project that the community had already began, but was on hold because they needed more materials and money. We decided that instead of starting our own project from scratch, that it would be best to complete the project that the community had already began. Over the next few days we organized and purchased the materials that were needed to complete the project. We contracted all the labor to be done by the local people which was a very positive impact on the community because of the poverty rate.
It turns out that I will be returning to Juarez/Huancabamba in 14 days to make sure that all the work is complete and then I will pay the contractor the money that he is owed. The project was a very big task and was far to much work for only me and Brad to complete, so we decided that this was the best option. The project includes the following; four toilets in an adobe two story house that is in need of water lines (to be run both from the source about 50 meters away, and also to the septic tank that was an astonishing 1/4 mile away from the bathrooms!), concrete floor, divisions between the toilets, a wood floor on the second story, a tank for water to be collected in before arriving in the toilets (this in necessary when there is not much water pressure), water lines for the actual bathroom with valves and such, tanks for the toilets, doors and window for the bathroom, all material for the septic tank which was very large (about 15ft x 15ft).
So if all goes as planned, then the bathrooms will be completed in only two weeks and 400 children who have never had a place to go to the bathroom will have something in their life that is taken for granted by so many people... Make sure to check out pictures at the link to the right (My Pictures). Blessings to all...
Most people do not have access to clean water and almost all people who live in the desert region have to walk in excess of two kilometers to obtain water that is still not clean and they must also pay for it. I guess that is how it is when you live in a desert and your government cannot afford to drill public wells and has to charge money for the water that you do have. The second thing that we discovered, was that almost every family lacked the knowledge or ability to practice any type of sanitation. Conditions throughout the region were beyond terrible and very very poor. Peru is known to be the second or third poorest country of South America next to Bolivia and Columbia.
We visited many areas in August and I documented as much as I could about each individual community. We found one village in the mountains in the region of Huancabamba called Juarez which CUBIT decided to do work at, and is where I have been for the past several days arranging a project to build bathrooms. Brad Charles, the president of the CUBIT Foundation accompanied me on the trip and we were able to get much accomplished. When we arrived, we discovered that there was a project that the community had already began, but was on hold because they needed more materials and money. We decided that instead of starting our own project from scratch, that it would be best to complete the project that the community had already began. Over the next few days we organized and purchased the materials that were needed to complete the project. We contracted all the labor to be done by the local people which was a very positive impact on the community because of the poverty rate.
It turns out that I will be returning to Juarez/Huancabamba in 14 days to make sure that all the work is complete and then I will pay the contractor the money that he is owed. The project was a very big task and was far to much work for only me and Brad to complete, so we decided that this was the best option. The project includes the following; four toilets in an adobe two story house that is in need of water lines (to be run both from the source about 50 meters away, and also to the septic tank that was an astonishing 1/4 mile away from the bathrooms!), concrete floor, divisions between the toilets, a wood floor on the second story, a tank for water to be collected in before arriving in the toilets (this in necessary when there is not much water pressure), water lines for the actual bathroom with valves and such, tanks for the toilets, doors and window for the bathroom, all material for the septic tank which was very large (about 15ft x 15ft).
So if all goes as planned, then the bathrooms will be completed in only two weeks and 400 children who have never had a place to go to the bathroom will have something in their life that is taken for granted by so many people... Make sure to check out pictures at the link to the right (My Pictures). Blessings to all...
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
ALBANIA ROCKS!
What an amazing country I am visiting right now. Definetley one of those countries that all people need to go a visit at least once in their life time. Such a unique place of culture and history and people must not be looked over! My trip now is only going to last a few more days, but soon enough I must partake in a return trip!
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