Sunday

I have been informed by a loved one that I need to use spell check on my blog. They are right. Since I have begun trying to learn Spanish my grammar has gotten progressively worse, as well as my spelling. Oh well. We have church on the beach in Manuel Antonio. I had the opportunity to teach/preach this Sunday. We looked over the passages in Matthew 8:23-27 where Jesus calms the storm.....we also looked at James 1:2-4 and 1 Peter 1:3-9 and discussed what we fear and how we should handle fears and trials when the arise. Many of the men in the program said that they feared falling( which means relapse back into addiction). That has been one of my biggest fears as well. Hopefully we can talk about this topic more throughout the week. Relapse does not happen all of the sudden. It is something that happens over time. It is a decision that is made long before it happens. Consistently reading God's word, praying, and having fellowship with other believers has kept me sober. I'm born again and I hope that most of these men come to realize who they are in Christ. I am still learning my identity in Him. Fearing something can be crippling to growth. I have feared relapse and I have found that my life is constructed in such a way that I have walls up all over the place to keep "bad stuff out." As a byproduct of this, some freedom in my walk with the Lord has been hindered. Of course God knows this and He has been gentle and patient to slowly take some of the walls I have built down. Once a man who was in addiction comes to Christ he is no longer an addict, nor does he any longer have to refer to himself as one. He is a new creation. He just has to learn what that looks like and search the scriptures to find out who he is in the Lord. Relapse to a past addict means failure. I have seen many friends fall and get back up stronger than before. I hope that a lot of these men find a new way of life and fall in love with the Lord. Most of these guys come from broken families, life on the streets, and many other sad circumstances. This program gives them the opportunity to establish a good foundation in the faith, learn some life skills, and learn how to be in relationship with one another. The entire house where these guys stay is probably about the size of a kitchen and a living room we have back in the states, and there are 9 men. If these guys can learn to live in community and love one another through the good and bad, they will be amply supplied to go and be productive members of a community back home.