Fire Down Below

I was at the program the other day with my girlfriend Amber and one of the program men noticed a house on fire. I yelled at some of the program men,"Lets Go!" We went down to help...for me mostly to see if anyone was trapped inside....but the community was trying to put the fire out with buckets of water and hoses. They also tried to get as much out of the house as they could. The house next to the one on fire quickly caught on fire and people were frantically breaking windows and trying to salvage as much as possible. It was a chaotic, sad, and emotional as people were running, yelling, crying, and helping one another. A few of the program men didn't listen to me the first couple of times when I tried to tell them to get out of the houses and away from danger. Eventually they listened when I got a little more stern. It was sad to see these families lose all there belongings. One of the program men told me that we had to keep helping because here it is not like the states where you get a lot of stuff back. It will take these people a long time to get stuff back. They don't have insurance like most of us do back in the US. I even understood why the guys weren't listening to me during the fires. I could see their compassion in action and it was cool to see everyone come together to help save what they could. I let them know that I wasn't going to allow them to risk their life for materially things. It was a learning experience and I am grateful that we were able to go and help. I am reading a lot about the Kingdom of God and I thought about the Kingdom after witnessing people come together amongst crisis and forget about themselves on behalf of others. I am 100% sure I saw the Kingdom of God yesterday. People were basically risking their lives to help these people salvage all they could. It was a memorable moment that I will never forget.

1 Month

I have been here in Costa Rica for a month now.  I would have to say that I am used to the daily routine, but not so much used to the pattern of life.  I am learning to enjoy relaxing.  I enjoyed relaxing back home, but there is much more here....at least it feels like it.  I feel like back home we are a slave to time and schedule.  Here there isn't much focus on keeping a schedule and it doesn't seem like there is much emphasis put on time.  At home it seems like there is not enough time in the day to do things.  Here sometimes it feels like there is too much time to do things.  It has been quite a big difference.  So when living back in the states I wonder where all the stress comes from of having to get things done and why we have to keep a strict schedule, because if you don't get a lot done and if you don't keep a rigid schedule you are looked upon as lazy and unorganized.  Yet you come to another country and do things the same way and it is looked upon as normal.  The same work ethic, drive, management of time, ect..ect.. doesn't work here or other places for that matter when you are immersed in another culture.  Everyone else around you is going at a similar pace and living life in a similar manner.  You just end up joining in.  Just like back at home.  In the USA it is balls to the wall work, work, work, to earn more money, money, money so I can get more bigger better stuff,stuff, stuff....at least that is how I perceive the american way of life.  I have only been here a month but I was here for a couple weeks last year and it is easy to see the emphasis  Costa Ricans put on spending time with family over working and trying to aquire possessions.  I would have to say that the people here are far happier people as a whole compared to the US.  Why?  I don't know exactly why.  But I would have to say they don't expect much, never had much, and they have learned to love life with whom they are surrounded by.  Although the pace of life is drastically different, I have also wondered if there is not the danger of just being lazy and complacent.  It is humid here and everyone around you is going at a certain pace....so how do you know if it is just plain laziness or if it is just the way things are?  Who is right and who is wrong I have wondered.  Maybe neither....maybe it is just the way it is? I definitely think Americans work way too much and don't spend enough time with family.  I have thought this before coming here. There is a lot going on in my head, so I will stop.:)  I am learning spanish daily and I am leaning on the hope given by others that I will start understanding more.  I hear it all the time and I don't understand most of it.  Some days my brain is absolutely overloaded with Spanish and I don't want to hear anymore.  It motivates me to want to learn, but it can be a bit discouraging not knowing much when everyone around you does.  A couple weeks ago I saw a black widow spider on the ground in the bathroom.  I was surprised and I yelled running out of the bathroom....I ended up killing it with roach killer.  I was going to just release it outside, but the dust pan idea I had didn't work.  It just crawled up it, so i figured I better kill it instead of allowing a potential threat back into the home.  I am excited to be here and I am thankful for all the support financially I have had and also the prayer and thoughts that are directed our way.  Peace

2 weeks In

I have enjoyed my stay here in Costa Rica thus far.  There have been some minor difficulties...mostly not sleeping well.  I wake up a ton during the night and rise about 5-5:30.  The sun comes up around that time so it doesn't feel too early.  I am fortunate to have been thrown right into the mix at the program and with the church on the beach.  I have done an intake interview and I also had the opportunity to teach/preach this past Sunday.  There are 7 men in the program thus far.  Two have left since I have been here.  It is definitely different than the program I went through and served at.  It has been refreshing to see a different approach and I have quickly learned that one way is not the best and there are multiple routes to what we call "success"(sobriety?).  They don't teach complete abstinence from alcohol here and it works.  The old AA-NA philosophy of never again is not so much followed here, only it is taught that if you have had trouble in the past and you cannot handle it then it is best that you never drink again.  It has been something I had to wrestle with quickly and wisely.  I understand the approach and I completely respect it.  I am learning quite a bit of Spanish being around it daily and studying from anywhere to a half an hour to an hour and a half a day.  There is one guy who speaks both Spanish and English so he translates for me.  A couple of the program men are very interested in learning English and I am very interested in learning Spanish so we are usually going back and forth learning new words and phrases.  I get to teach bible study on Monday's and Tuesday's and they also threw me into the preaching-teaching rotation.  Church is on the beach and some local surfers come and join us.  The church is very small right now, but it is pretty cool to worship God on the beach in public.  Locals watch curiously during the service.  Kim Stillwell is the man whom started the program down here.  He knows just about everyone.  He introduce me to the "drug kingpins" the other day.  You can go right up on the dyke and watch repeated deals of marijuana and crack cocaine go down.  The police station is right next door and I mean right next door. They also patrol it, but only harass users and kids.  It is pretty backwards, but it is what it is.  I killed a black widow spider the other day the size of my hand.  It was freaking big man and it has not helped me to sleep wondering if I am going to wake up to one of those on me.  The people here are very nice and welcoming.  It is very common for the majority of the people to say hello and if they don't you can and they will say it back....much different than the states.  Sometimes I say hello to people and they look at me like I have lost my mind.  America in my opinion has lost a lot of it's personable skills. Why???  Jared and Eileen the couple I am staying with are in Brazil right now which has left me home alone for about 8-9 days.  It has gotten a bit lonely at night but I pass the time reading, playing video games, studying spanish, and chatting online.  It is rainy season here, but the weather has been great.  I sweat all day and I quickly learned that I needed to up my water intake a ton.  It almost seems pointless to take a shower because I sweat more after I take a shower that I do the rest of the day.  Ok....that is my update.  Cool life down here and much opportunity for the present as well as the future.

1 week

My first week in Quepos, Costa Rica is coming to an end.  It has been a great week.  I have been meeting a lot of people in the community here in Quepos and also in Manuel Antonio(beach).  A typical day is waking up at 5:30am to read, go workout at 6:30, come back and get cleaned-up, eat breakfast, then we go over to the center(addiction recovery program) around 8:30am.  That time is spent reading, studying spanish and just enjoying each others company.  Pretty laid back, the guys are busy doing their daily cleaning duties.   Lunch break is right around 11am and is about 2 hours long.  We come back to Jared's to eat and hang.  We go back to the center around 1pm until about 4-5pm.  During that time there is bible study or learning spanish while teaching some english.  The program men have been busy doing a really big landscape project be the ocean in town.  It looks really good and I can tell that the men enjoy feeling like they are contributing to cleaning up the community..which they really are.  The area they are cleaning up is pretty dirty.  The area is where much of the homeless and addicted stay...also where the drug dealers hang.  God is truly being glorified on this work project.  There are men that were in addiction cleaning up the same area some of them used to get high at.  We have church on the beach!  There is a decent size gathering in a small cove where we have praise and worship and my friend Jared does the preaching.  After the preaching we took communion.  Just about everyone went swimming after church.  Jared and I played soccer with the locals for about an hour and a half.  It was hot and the sand was really hard on my legs.  As far as day to day life goes it is pretty relaxing.  I have been enjoying the free time I have to read a book a friend got me and also I am getting into reading systematic theology.  Signing out.  Bmacfosho

Worn Out

Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.  Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me.  This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.  The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning Great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:19-23)  This is pretty much how I felt this past evening...afflicted, wandering the past few days with lack of intimate prayer and slothfulness in reading my Word.  My soul is wounded and my heart is extremely heavy even this morning.  I know that lack of sleep contributes, but I feel like David when he said that his soul pants for God as the deer pants for the water brooks.  It seems not to take much for my soul to get weary and for worry to takeover my joy.  I was doing well last night and as the night went on I found myself feeling weird, anxious, and a bit speechless.  It is easy to point the finger and blame others for the way I feel, but after praying and reading I found how responsible I am.   I read Lamentations this morning and found Christ.  I am thankful for His rest, His consuming lovingkindness and His faithfulness.  What a great God.  

2 or 3

Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two of three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. This scripture popped up in my head when Amber was praying for me tonight. I am working the late shift and it has been tough to make it through the past few nights. Tonight is my last night and I needed some serious prayer. I even asked Allison, Colleen, and Josh to pray for me. We huddled up in the kitchen with our arms around each other petitioning our Father. I thought to myself,"This is what it's all about!" When I am sleep deprived my world can come tumbling down at any moment. Last night it almost did. Everything seems like a huge deal when I haven't slept well. I can just be walking down the hallway thinking about how I want to sleep and how I have to do it again the next night and start getting emotional....like I might actually end if I don't get to sleep. Let it be known, I despise the graveyard shift. Although I figure that God is teaching me to humble down and ask for prayer and depend on Him to get through it. To think when I prayed with Amber:) and my other friends Jesus was in our midst. Thats amazing, the Lord Himself was amongst us taking it all in. I imagine it brings Him great joy to see His children in unity seeking Him.

Boxers

I am re-reading Velvet Elvis and Rob Bell goes into a short story describing him and some close friends sitting in a restaurant enjoying each others company. They end up closing the place down...and it seems that he is with his dearest friends in the world. He goes on to say,"And I'm sitting in this restaurant looking around the table, soaking it in, totally overwhelmed with the holiness of it all. The sacredness of the moment. That sense that in spite of everything awful I have ever seen, we're going to make it." I read this during my late shift tonight and it sparked 2 instances recently I have felt this "feeling." Last Saturday my friend Troy spent the night and we got up Sunday morning to go to church together. I was at the kitchen table eating cereal when he and my roommate both came in still half asleep in their boxers. I love mornings and the one thing I am most grateful for apart from Christ is my friends He has given me. Guys like to give each other a hard time and crack jokes at all times it seems. Even more so when women aren't around and it was already happening upon us all waking up. I was so content and grateful at that moment. I was in awe of the gift of friendships and how God restores what I have broken. I saw God at work through two dudes in boxers in my kitchen on Sunday morning. There was a time when I was just about friendless and now I don't care to count how many friends God has given me. Praise God for friends and simple moments of joy. I pray to God that I never get too busy or too preoccupied with this world to enjoy life. Another moment was at house church last night. It was my turn to share my junk and during my time of sharing I could tell that the enemy was at work in my thought life. Sometimes it just takes me speaking out loud what is going on inside and I then realize that the thoughts I am believing are lies. I had 4 brothers encouraging me, asking thought provoking questions, and praying for me. I didn't feel alone. I looked at the 4 men sitting around me and I knew that they were there for me..standing shoulder to shoulder with me...loving me...not judging me...helping me to know that I am not crazy! Holla