The Willem

Yakima Happenings

// December 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // I just started writing and..., Life

Well, it has been a bit too long since I last updated. In the future, I’ll be establishing a regular schedule for postings, but I’ll get to that when I know exactly what my weeks are going to look like back in Guadalajara. For now, I’ll just give a few bullet-points concerning everything that has happened during my time in Yakima.

• My first Sunday back in town, I spoke at Solid Rock Family Worship Center, where I have friends and a new section of my church family. They listened intently as I spoke for about ten minutes about our established ministries, our Hell House event, and what we hope to accomplish in the coming years in Guadalajara. God truly is moving in Guadalajara and it was evident that this church now has a heart for the “heart of darkness.” They gave a very generous offering, covering an entire month of my budget. Additionally, several people declared their intention to give regularly over the coming months, which is how most of my funding works anyway. One woman even offered to send Christmas presents to all of our El Colli kids. I was very blessed to spend time at Solid Rock and I am looking forward to giving them regular updates

• Also in that first week, I set up a new email system on the website so people can auto-subscribe to the monthly newsletter I’ll be sending out. If you’d like monthly updates, please enter your name and email on the right side of the page.

• On December 9th, I finished my first semester back in college. I cannot fully describe how good it feels to be done with semester number one. About a week later, I got my grades: a 3.25 gpa. While that isn’t as good as I’d prefer, I suppose I’ll keep in mind just how much I was adjusting to. I expect higher grades in the future, but I’ll be content for now.

• I have a girlfriend for the first time in over four years!  The young woman I am now dating is named Anna. She’s a beautiful and compassionate daughter of God who is a teacher at a local Christian school. I am absolutely beside myself with joy at having found her. Obviously I could go on forever about her, but I’m keeping all of these updates brief, so I suppose I should stay consistent. I’ll post a picture of us at the bottom of this entry.

• I went swing-dancing last night. I never expected to enjoy it as much as I did, but I think I want to pick it up when I come back to Yakima permanently.

• I’ve had dinner at the houses of two prospective Engage students. Both were wonderful dinners filled with poignant questions, great laughs, and gregarious stories. I think both would be excellent candidates for Engage and recommended strongly that they both seriously pursue the program. Honestly, I would recommend this experience for just about every Christian high school graduate. So many aspects of it are beneficial for the age group and it’s a phenomenal learning environment.

• I had my first Reuben. It was delicious. I did not expect to like it, since I’ve never liked rye and never tried sauerkraut, but I was blown away. That’s a delicious sandwich.

• I’m buying a Mac. It just makes too much sense when I’m moving into graphics work, starting musical composition, and potentially doing video editing. I know, I know. I never thought I’d make the switch, but I’m in.

• I discovered that I lost inches while I was in Mexico. I’m actually noticeably thinner. I guess that’s a good start, but I’m still not where I’d like to be.

• I learned how to do drywall. I know, this isn’t exactly something you’d normally write about, but it was actually pretty exciting. Over the last week I’ve been working with a friend who is a general contractor and I’ve learned a lot of things that will come in handy when I have my own house someday, since repairing things is one of my favorite things to do and doing it myself is way cheaper than hiring someone else.

• I miss speaking Spanish. I never thought I’d say that. I’m very much looking forward to picking it back up.

• I received some very exciting news regarding my future as a pastor. It’s confidential for now and in the very very infantile stages, but I’ll be praying on it constantly and looking forward to whatever develops.

• Tomorrow Anna and I are driving over the pass after church to be with the Diehls for a few days. I’m not sure if I’m speaking at church at all, since nobody ever got back to me on that, but I would love the opportunity if it presents itself, since my funding is terribly low and nobody really knows what we’re doing or how to help. I’ll be praying about that tonight as well.

I think that’s it for now. As promised, the picture of Anna and I:

Bienvenidos a Los Estados Unidos

// December 4th, 2009 // No Comments » // I just started writing and..., Life

Oh, how I longed to hear those words. Ok, so maybe I longed for them in English, but I heard them in Spanish first and rejoiced. Then I realized that instead of being home, I was in Dallas, Texas, where it was pouring down rain and actually colder than Seattle at the time.

Anyway, I suppose I should recount the hilarity that always seems to accompany me on my traveling adventures.

At 1am on December 1st, I left our house. Richie, Jen, and Rachel accompanied me in our van after the three of them had spent a good chunk of the day arguing over who would get to take me. Eventually, we realized that Steve had the truck keys, so we had to take the van, which meant everyone could fit and we could have a grand adventure. Being an adventure, we all simultaneously decided to adopt outrageous accents. After “freerunning” around the Wallmart parking lot, we finally headed off to the bus station, where I managed to speak clearly and thoroughly in Spanish with the ticket agent. I was a bit stunned. Maybe I should always be exhausted when I’m trying to speak Spanish.

I purchased my bus ticket to Puerto Vallarta for the 1:40am bus, then sat down with the three hooligans for a while before they realized I’d be perfectly fine without them there (to be honest, I was sad when they left and had very little to do).  I hopped onto my bus and settled in for a nap that never came. I tried to sleep. I was sleepy. I was sitting in a very comfortable chair. The bus was quiet and incredibly smooth-driving. There was one issue, however. The bus was at least 90 degrees. Seriously, the bus driver must have blown right past “heat” on the dial and right on into the “fiery pits of hell” setting. So how hot was it? I’ll tell you how hot it was. It was so hot, I stripped down naked and put ice packs all over my body and was still sweating. It was so hot, the demons left everyone on the bus and retreated to Hell for some reprieve. It was so hot…ok, so it wasn’t THAT hot. But I was still sweating so badly that I couldn’t sleep. Not my favorite way to start a 27 hour journey.

We arrived in Puerto Vallarta around 6:15am. It was still dark. After grabbing my luggage (I packed light enough that I only had a backpack and a carry-on), I sauntered up to a group of cabbies and asked where the best breakfast on the beach was. They all gave different answers, so I went with the one who described the food the best (story-tellers know food, am I right?). We meandered through the beautiful buildings and palm-lined parkways until we finally arrived at a dead end that was about 20 feet from the beach. Then I discovered I only had 50 pesos, so we had to scoot over to an atm. I think he expected me to bolt, but I paid his full fair of course (the guy did swindle me a bit, but he was getting me to beachfront and delicious food, so I let it slide).

That’s when I found out that nobody was open until 7:30, and there was no way I could afford those restaurants. And the beach was dark. And cold. And rainy. I still got to stare out for a while admiring the absolute creativity and beauty involved in God’s creating this earth. Seriously, He knew what He was doing, and it was done well. Eventually, after being soaked in a combination of sweat, sea water, and rain, I decided to find a bus to the airport. I had to ask a few bus drivers, but I finally found the spot to wait at and got on the right bus.

I waltzed over to the Mexicana check-in and had a nice 15 minute conversation with the lonely attendant. We talked international politics, the greater ramifications of life decisions, the meaning of life, and Jesus. It was nice. Then a family finally showed up and I noticed they were speaking in both Spanish and English. Seeing as how we all had to wait for the security personnel to arrive before we could proceed with our day, I struck up conversation in Spanish with the dad (Rogelio). We talked a little bit about Spanish and my purpose in Mexico before I asked where they were headed for vacation. He then replied that they had just finished their vacation and were now headed back home in the States. I asked where they were from. He said Washington. I asked where at in Washington. He said Yakima. I said no way. I said I lived on Naches Avenue and Martin Luther King. He asked why I lived in such a bad area, then said they were actually from Sunnyside.

We eventually found out that they were headed through Mexico City, then Phoenix, then Seattle, whereas I was flying Mexico City, Dallas, Seattle. The security guy finally showed up and we separated for an hour or so. I had some breakfast, read some of Hebrews and Romans, then headed to Starbucks to sneak a wireless signal for my computer. There, I met a couple guys from Chicago who were having trouble getting in touch with their hotel, so I looked up a phone number for them.

When I headed over to the gate for my flight, I reunited with the Sunnyside family and asked if they knew how to get onto the airport shuttle from Seatac to Yakima. Instead of answering me, they decided they wanted to drive me home after their flight got in. I was floored. God provides in such creative ways.

The flight from Puerto Vallarta to Mexico City was mostly uneventful. I sat with an empty seat between myself and a really nice kid who plays soccer for a second division club in Mexico, but who spent two years playing at San Diego State University. We talked a lot about soccer, California, future business planning, and Jesus. We talked about laying up treasure in Heaven instead of on earth, but at the same time being responsible stewards of what God has put into our hands. It was very beneficial for him, as by the end of the conversation he’d decided to go back to school and make sure he had a plan for life after soccer.

I met a few really delightful people in Mexico City. One was a girl from Tyler, Texas who sat next to me in the airport. The other was a British girl who grew up in Holland, but was now flying from deep in Southern Mexico after studying political corruption (she’s a social geography major) and taking a trip to a rural part of Argentina to study there for a couple weeks. The British girl had sat across from me while I was sitting down at my gate, reading and listening to music. I couldn’t help but notice her awesome shoes (they had a monster from Where the Wild Things Are) and made a comment. She blushed and said thank you. Then we both went back to what we were doing. She ended up sitting next to me on the plane (with an empty seat between us. I have no idea how I managed to get that arrangement twice), so we talked the whole way from Mexico City to Dallas. I remember one moment in particular where we both looked out the window down onto the clouds as we were skimming across the tops of them. The sun was just dipping beneath them, illuminating each particle in brilliant shades of orange, red, purple, pink, and yellow, while the moon was rising in a crystal blue sky, full and bright. It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.

When we finally landed in Dallas, it was night, cold, and rainy. We had plans to meet up for dinner on the other side of customs, but I never found her. It was a bit sad, but then I remembered I had a US phone I very badly needed to check. Life got busy at that point. Texts, tweets, voicemails, calls, you name it. I had a lot of catching up to do.

The flight from Dallas to Seattle finally caught up with me. It was a packed flight and neither of the people I sat between was in the mood to talk, so I just watched UP! on the in-flight movie. I really liked it. It was cute. We touched down in Seattle around 10:45pm. (Accounting for the two hour time difference, 11pm ushered in hour 24 of travel and hour 40 of being awake.) The Sunnyside family landed at 10:57, so I met up with them at their baggage claim, we hopped in a hotel shuttle, hopped in their car, and headed home. After getting lost several times, the dad finally took my directions and we got onto the freeway. That’s when the mom started asking me everything there is to know about the differences between Mexican Catholicism and Assemblies of God doctrines. I must say, that was an absolutely wonderful conversation and it kept us all awake until we got to Yakima and dropped me off at Wallmart, where Kim and Thayne picked me up about 10 seconds after the family drove away. The timing was impeccable. It was still at 3:15am though, so I was tired.

They took me back to Thayne’s place and he and I stayed up watching some ridiculous tv show called Tim and Erik Awesome Show Great Job. It was absolutely hilarious and we stayed up watching that and wasting time with our laptops open until after 5am. It was a delightful way to end an amazing trip.

Now I’m here in Yakima and staying at a different friend’s house for the remainder of my time here. I’m pretty sure I found a job for while I’m here, I get to speak at a church this Sunday, and I have a bit of homework to finish while balancing time with many many friends and families here. I love this life.

AAAAAAAAaaaaannnnnd……..Tears

// November 27th, 2009 // No Comments » // I just started writing and..., Perspectives, Prayer

I expected to cry today. I really did. I just thought it would be for different reasons. And I thought it would be once and then I’d be done. I was wrong. Very wrong.

It’s Thanksgiving Day, I’m thousands of miles away from my family or anyone I’ve ever considered family, and I couldn’t follow the traditions that I’ve had since the first Thanksgiving I remember. Football? No watching. No playing. Zilch. I’m good with that. I can deal with that. Apparently, they ended up being pretty lousy games to watch anyway. Solid. Datenut bread? Can’t make it here. Don’t have the stuff. (This is a recipe handed down for generations in my mom’s family that she taught me how to make. She made it every Thanksgiving and Christmas until she died, then I took over each year). Switching into pajamas after dinner? Nope. Shoot, half our people didn’t even want a pause between the two (I continue to be appalled by that idea) and I had to set up for a few other things.

If I’m listing off all this sad stuff that didn’t make me cry, you’d figure I only cried for happy things, right? Well, you’d be wrong. Don’t get me wrong; this day brings to mind so many blessings, both seen and unseen, that I’m brought to tears with overwhelming gratitude for the Jehova Jireh. The Almighty Father truly blesses me every single day, starting with the fact that I, an unworthy sinner, have been plucked from the clutches of death and made righteous in His sight, purified by the propitiation of Christ on the cross. The sacrifice of the Spotless Lamb truly does bring unbridled joy to my heart. However, what broke me today…over and over…over and over again, was another blessing. A blessing broke me? Yes. Let me explain.

Today, God blessed me with ears to hear and eyes to see. Today, God revealed the brokenness of my generation. He revealed the pain it causes Him each time a misguided soul, Christian or not, Catholic or Protestant, young or old, male or female, takes Him and His grace for granted. He revealed how much it pains Him to see each of us turns our back on Him whenever we decide that we can sin and make it up later. He revealed how much it breaks His heart when we are free to roam, free to blaspheme, free to indulge simply because “He’ll forgive me later.”

I’m not sure where Christ laid that out as the way to live. Wait, yes I am. Nowhere. That’s not the Biblical life-model. You know why? Because it stinks. You know why Christ modeled a life and Paul and the other Apostles carefully-sculpted the image of a life lived rightly? Because it brings righteousness. Not self-righteousness. Righteousness.

Do we even know what that is anymore? Honestly, most people don’t even try to figure out what it is. They just figure they’re covered because they mumbled some prayer after some guy who yelled at them about some other guy who did stuff so they’d be cool with some other guy who has a lot of weird names.

Salvation is worked out. Work it out. Work by the sweat of our brow is Biblically-prescribed

How does this strike you?
17To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”    Genesis 3:17-19

Yeah, sounds fun, huh? As soon as Satan entered our lives, so did hard work. Work existed before we had sin (Gen. 2 speaks of working in the Garden of Eden), but God makes a clear difference between the work we originally did in the Garden and the work we are now ascribed today. Because we allowed hurdles into our lives (Seriously Adam, you had to go and fail at being a real man? Thanks dude. Thanks a lot.), we now have the added burden of hard work.  According to Philippians 2:12 (So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;) we get to work out our salvation as well. What does that mean? As I read it, I’m pointed back to my original point: salvation is not an event. Rather, it is a process.

This process entails much. Constant failures, learning, stretching, denying one’s flesh (rather, slaying one’s flesh and replacing those desires with the Holy Spirit’s guidance and the will of God), and yes, repentance. What does repentance mean, though? Does it mean remorse? That’s not the Biblical model, so no. Does it mean empty words said to anyone who will listen (perhaps someone who is not an appropriate confidante for such sensitive information)? No, we know that’s not it either. Let’s take a peek at what our actual authority has to say about repentance.

2 Corinthians 7:10- Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Pretty clear, right? This shows repentance is an understand of having done wrong, but in a Godly manner. Let’s keep going, on to one of my favorite books in the whole Bible.

Hebrews 6:4- For it is impossible to keep on restoring to repentance time and again people who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have become partners with the Holy Spirit

Okay, that’s pretty heavy stuff, right? Repeated restoration to repentance is impossible for those who have received the Holy Spirit? If someone corrected you with this scripture without referencing it, what’s the likelihood you would even believe that it’s sound logic? I would ask if you would be likely to even think that it’s Biblical, but I don’t want to imply that anyone reading this might, you know, not accept Biblical correction from others. Okay, back to the point. The vast majority of us would usually read this, try to swallow the rapidly-drying and rapidly-growing lump suddenly stuck in their throat, and say “okay, but how does that make sense? Why?” Let’s find out.

Hebrews 6:5-6 – ⁵and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Now hold on just a gosh darn moment! Are you saying that God, in His infinite wisdom, knew that we would question His why and how, and then decided to (pause for a moment here, it’s a big deal) answer us in the very next verse? Who knew? Who knew we served a God who answers our questions and makes clear His desires and His commands? Did you know this? Why didn’t I know this? How many of you knew this and didn’t tell me? (Okay, so that last one is a whole separate post and probably will be the subject of many a sermon in my lifetime, so I’ll leave it alone for the moment.) Back to the passage. “And the powers of the age to come” is an entirely different doctrinal issue, so I’ll let it alone for the moment. The real meat I’m getting at here is the bit about repeated repentance being equal to repeatedly crucifying the Son of God, as well as “holding him up to contempt.”

Let’s take a peek at the word “contempt.” Dictionary.com describes it thus: “the feeling with which a person regards anything considered mean, vile, or worthless; disdain; scorn.” I’d like to settle on the word “worthless.” The Bible, in Hebrews 6 just said that when we repeatedly subject ourselves to sin, falling away from God, then respond to repentance over and over, that we are treating Christ as worthless. That just doesn’t sound good. I think I’ll try to pass. Oh wait, I don’t have to. It’s impossible.

This would probably be a good time to extend an olive branch called grace. If not to extend it, I’ll at least attempt to explain God’s view on grace. This passage (and the great majority of this post) concerns intentional, habitual, repetitive sin. (The kind of sin where you usually don’t notice it because you’ve grown numb to even remembering that it is a sin. The other option, and the one that makes more sense for this passage, is that they are the sins that afterward we recognize, and maybe even feel sorry for, but that we do nothing to reconcile. When we apologize to God, that does nothing, as the true definition of repentance is not found in remorse. More on that later.) It does not necessarily address incidental, non-habitual sins. (The kind of sins where afterward the reaction is “God, I hate that. Don’t let me do that again. Please forgive me Lord. That’s not my heart and I don’t ever want to do that. Ever.” You know, the sins that aren’t regularly in your life, so you recognize them and actually, well, repent.) God’s grace, accomplished through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, covers this last type of sin, because we actually attempt to stay covered under this grace when we repent.

Imagine Jesus is walking next to you. It’s pouring down rain. Jesus has this super-awesome umbrella. When we’re walking with Him, we’re dry. No sweat (pun intended). No worries, right? Super. What happens if we take a rabbit trail? What happens if we suddenly start chasing after someone else or hanging out and walking with them? We become soaking, sopping, miserably wet, of course. To that end, we are living in sin. Absolutely covered in it. Repeated offenses will lead to consistent cold, clammy, angry wetness, which eventually leads to a miserable life, and probably to sickness. Here’s where repentance comes in. Repentance is a reversal of course. Does that mean instant dryness and a peachy-keen life? Of course not. Why not? Because while Jesus kept heading towards the Father because He is always focused on the goal, which is Heaven of course, (yes, He is always chasing after us, so the analogy breaks down) we were headed in the opposite direction. We have to include the economic law of loss here. Every block we were heading in the opposite direction of Jesus, we were actually moving two blocks away from him. Of course, the Lord works differently in each person’s life, but the principle applies. If we’re heading away from Christ for, say, three blocks, we are in effect six blocks away from Him when we have our moment of repentance. Let’s assume that it’s genuine repentance, so we turn and run to him. He’s still moving, so we’ll say we’re moving at twice the pace. We start six blocks away. He moves one block, we move two. Five blocks away. He moves one, we move two. Four blocks away. You get the point. Six blocks’ time for him, and twelve for us. Don’t forget the three other blocks away we were. We spent 15 blocks away from Him for three blocks’ worth of following the other trail. Now we’re back under the umbrella and nice and safe and cozy and dry, right?

Wrong. Here’s the hardest part of repentance. It takes time to dry off after you get under that umbrella. It takes time to heal. (We know that God does miracles today. I have seen it. I have experienced it. He delights in deliverance. However, more often God works through victory and processes of obedience.) Don’t forget all the distractions trying to draw you back into the tempest at every corner, every store window, and all the stumbling blocks trying to trip you up along the way. Just because you repent and run back to Christ doesn’t mean the enemy won’t try to mess with you. Getting dry is one incredible challenge. Staying dry is an entirely different animal.

Speaking of rabbit trails, I seem to have gotten myself lost on one here. I started writing this about the tears I shed today for my generation and ended up preaching for 2000+ words. Shweet.

What I intended to write about all sparked from a conversation this morning after I was asked for my opinion on tattoos. I’d gotten halfway through the sentence where I usually set up my opinion about there being a difference between pre-marriage and post-marriage tattoos when I was cut off and informed that “It doesn’t matter if it’s going to be someone else’s body someday. God will give you someone who will like it or someone who will forgive you for it. We all have pasts, you know?” I was appalled. I was completely at a loss for how someone could disrespect their future spouse in such a way. I still haven’t said anything. Not for fear, but because I know this person well enough at this point to realize that it is something God will teach in His perfect timing, because this person is growing in relationship with God and constantly pushing closer and closer. Soon enough, God will bless this person with the wisdom and prudence necessary to understand the statement uttered.

We all have pasts, yes. God forgives them when we humble ourselves and take refuge under his umbrella of grace. However, we all have futures, as well. We all have futures that we need to keep in mind, that we need to guard, just as we guard our hearts. What respect for the holy covenant of marriage do we hold if we maintain an “I can do that, my future spouse will forgive me for it or God will give me someone who isn’t bothered by it,” outlook? Even more importantly, what respect do we have for Christ if we maintain that attitude towards the holy covenant of faith in the Son of God? I think we pretty clearly covered that earlier in this post, didn’t we?

This is what God showed me today. This is what brought me to tears and indecipherable babble multiple times throughout the day. The enemy has strongholds in each of us, and the stronghold he holds in this young person is clearly one of deception as to the importance of the future, the covenants involved, the eternal consequences of every action, and you know what? It will be torn down. It will be abolished. It will be sanctified by holy fire in the name of Jesus Christ. There will be restoration. There will be healing. There will be Truth. Truth the person, the man, the god, the savior, the messiah. Truth will prevail as He always does and always will.

Hey, whaddya know? I’m crying again. It’s a different cry this time. It’s the cry of victory. A victory not yet felt, but one surely coming. Amen.