'Just a thought'

"You stir up man to take pleasure in praising You, because You have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You."

~Augustine

Confessions,

Book I.i.1

'Just a thought'

In response to counseling with the claim "God loves you just as you are. God has unconditional love for you." David Powlison writes:

"The Gospel is better than unconditional love. The Gospel says, "God accepts you just as Christ is. God has 'contraconditional' love for you." Christ bears the curse you deserve. Christ is fully pleasing to the Father and gives you His own perfect goodness. Christ reigns in power, making you the Father's child and coming close to you to begin to change what is unacceptable to God about you. God never accepts me "as I am." He accepts me "as I am in Christ." The center of gravity is different. The true Gospel does not allow God's love to be sucked into the vortex of the soul's lust for acceptability and worth in and of itself. Rather, it radically decenters people-- what the Bible calls "fear of the Lord" and "faith"-- to look outside themselves."

~David Powlison

The Journal of Biblical Counseling,

Vol. 13.2, 1995

Praise God for his unspeakable riches in Christ!

"...For He both hears and answers prayer"

With praise to our God and heavenly Father, 'who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ', has also granted that Rebecca and I may pursue a closer relationship. We are overjoyed, to say the least. God in His amazing grace has placed us in the loving family of His church; this family has helped us over the past few months, and even years, in ways which are difficult to express. He is more than worthy to be thanked and praised; it is also fitting to share our joy with you, and to thank you for the many prayers and support you have shown us. Though the road has not been smooth, we can testify to the faithfulness of Christ who has been with us every step of the way- and we know He will continue to be. Please continue to uphold us in your prayers; although God continues to work in us, we are still broken people in need of much change.

"Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together."

~Psalm 34:3

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works"

~Hebrews 10:23-24

Westminster Thoelogical Seminary

Thought it would be a good idea to post some pictures of the WTS campus- all four buildings of it. I had International Student Orientation today; tomorrow, general orientation. This provided (and I trust will provide) the opportunity to start making connections and building relationships.

WTS Bookstore

(see link at top of blog)

Machen Hall Administration and Housing building

Library

Machen Hall

Van Til Hall

Auditorium and classrooms

Safe and Sound!

Hey, y'all,

I have safely arrived at my home away from home yesterday at 6:15 pm. What a different experience living so far from home. I think at this point the newness of it all is keeping me sane.

God has been good, though, there is no doubt in that. The border guard gave me a hard time because I brought most of my tools over with me. He wasn't too happy, and threatened that they might not let me through . . . and that was it. Miracle #1. Then, inside the customs and immigration office, they asked for proof of finances, to prove to them that I would not end up a public ward and leech off the American system- as if :S Anyway, I had nothing, since much of the proof they were asking for was confidential and sent directly to WTS. So, I prayed. The guy said he had to talk to his supervisor, but it looked like I wouldn't be able to get my visa processed. The only "proof" of finances I had was a letter from WTS stating that I had "documented sufficient financial resources for [my] study at Westminster Seminary" and that I was admitted into the program. I continued to pray for a miracle as the guy talked with his supervisor, and God heard that prayer. They processed the visa on the good word of the Seminary, which apparently is unusual. Praise God! I signed the documents and got outta there before they had a chance to change their minds.

So that was the beginning of quite a long and tiring drive. A construction impediments, a roll-over accident, and two pit stops later, I arrived at my destination.

My address here is 2450 Norwood Ave., Roslyn, PA 19001

Next week I have orientation and meet-and-greets on Tuesday and Wednesday, and my classes start Sept. 6, so I probably will have time for some sightseeing. I'll keep you posted.

Please continue to pray for me, especially for this coming week. Thanks, and God bless!

... Yes, I'm Back!!

My humblest apologies to all who were disappointed by the abrupt interruption in the blogging! I had 5 flights in the last week of my trip, which afforded little time to blog. However, having caught up with many friends this week, I have dedicated this afternoon to updating the world on my final exploits in Peru.

We spent the first few days in Lima visiting several placements we worked at last year, as well as some that I did not visit. The shantytown of Las Gardenias was a pleasure to see, because the work that we helped out with has been ongoing. The staircase that we built has been painted, the school yard upgraded with a concrete pad, and a new playground has been built. It was really cool to see that the non-defeatist attitude and the living conditions improving for those who continue to work hard there despite having so little.

The Staircase and School in Las Gardenias

Having fun at a school for disabled children

We also visited a school where 5 students are currently teaching. Again, the vision of the local people and the determination to make the best of what they have is really incredible. With literally zero rain per year, the community has set up a fog-collection system to water the gardens and woods in and around the school ground, and are continuing to expand up the dry, deserted mountain, and hope to add a college for the students in the near future. There are already separate boys (San Pedro) and girls (Villa Caritas- both private) schools; excess money from tuition goes to support the small fledgling schools in the shantytowns run by the Christian Life Movement.

San Pedro/ Villa Caritas

The following Monday we flew into the Andes to the city of Cuzco. Cuzco, the City of Kings is situated in the Sacred Valley, and was the capital of the Inka Empire.

Our view of the Andes from the plane

After spending the afternoon acclimatizing, I spent the next day shopping at the Inka handcrafts market. Early Wednesday morning we set out by train (4 1/2 hours) to Machu Picchu. My dream was to climb Mt. Waynapicchu, the opposing mountain overlooking Machu Picchu. There are ruins built at he summit, with lookouts over the ancient citadel. the train arrived a half hour later that expected, and our guide was skeptical that we would be allowed to climb Waynapicchu because of the time, and there are only 400 visitors per day allowed to climb. Taking the next available bus up to Machu Picchu, we raced to the entrance of the city, only to be told that it didn't seem like climbing the mountain was likely- boy, was I bummed!! Stubborn as I am, I decided to check into it anyway, perhaps even to find a way to sneak past the checkpoint. When we arrived, we found out that there were 4 openings left, and we could still go!!! I was elated.

Machu Picchu, with Waynapicchu in the back

Halfway up, I started to rethink my decision; the climb was arduous to say the least. After 1 hour and 15 minutes, we reached to pinnacle. How can I describe it? You simply have to go there some day! Check out some of the pix:

Close to the summit- check out the road going up to Machu Picchu on the left!

The view was spectacular!

After we had returned to Lima, I was ready to return home. I really missed assembling on Sundays with my church family, and I definitely missed my friends. However, I can testify that the Lord used many events and sights to teach me more about who He is; I've learned to trust Him when there were events happening that were outside of my control.And I believe that He allowed me to be more open about my faith in Him in discussion with others on the trip- i pray that the seeds sewn on this trip will bear much fruit to the honour and glory of His name. If this is so, the whole trip will have been more than worth it!

As an appendix, I found out that my visa to attend Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia is in the mail, and I have also been offered a partial scholarship for studies beginning this fall. God has demonstrated His goodness and leading as doors continue to open for me in this area of my life. I will try to keep you all posted on further developments.

Thanks for welcoming me home!!

Bienvenidos a Argentina

Wow, this blogging thing is actually a lot of work. I finally have some time today, after a weekof travelling, sight seeing, intense conversations and nuch lack of sleep to send you an update. I am currently in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, population 20 million- small considering the greater Sao Paulo area of Brazil has 32 million. These cities are huge. Even Rio is large, at about 12 million. Argentina is nice- at least what we have seen of it. It is the beginning of winter here, the leaves are falling off the trees, the parrots are making a rucous in the trees and last night the temperature dropped to zero- yeah, its cold. We came here from Buzios, as my previous update briefly indicated, which is a quaint little resort down 2 1/2 hours down the coast from Rio. There, we went swimming, surfing, and took a three hour boat tour (but did not get shipwrecked). We spent the better part of 24 hours traveling to Argentina, and arrived on Saturday early afternoon. We took an easy day of mostly eating and resting, then went out for a city tour and a coffee.

Sunday was interesting- I went to a Protestant service, which I think was more Anglican, but I was able to understand at least in part the sermon. In the evening, we gathered as a group to pray, sing, and read Scripture. Eacj person took turns opening the Bible and reading the passage they opened to, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide each person and to apply each passage to the individual. It is kinda hard to explain the process in a few words, but I hope you get the gist of it. To me this idea was kind a wierd at first, but once we began, the Spirit really hit home with almost everyone, and the passages that were randomly chosen spoke loudly and clearly to many of us. There were times when some were touched to tears, and I was as well at some of the passages speaking so relevantly and clearly to people. However, I still have this nagging feeling that these seeds that were sown will be readily and esily plucked away. Please, please, pray for these people that are on this trip with me, myself included, that Gods Word will bear much fruit in our lives, and have seving effect in the hearts of those here who do not yet know him.

Tomorrow evening we begin our return trip to Brazil, then I will be off to Peru for a week. I miss you all very much- there is much comaraderie here and I am having a good time, but at the same time I miss the spiritual food I receive being under the Reformed preaching of the word and in conversation with Gods people. I will soon be needing to really recharge my spiritual batteries. See you all soon!

At one of the beaches in Buzios

Our retreat house in Buenos Aires- this is actually the house of the Arch Bishop of Buenos Aires which is rented out by the Christian Life Movement

Me and a boy named Lucas, a grade 1 student at a school we visited.