Cristo de las Noas

Second Highest Statue of Christ in Latin America


Monument in a cave replicating the birthplace of Jesus





Brian and Leslie atop the mountain of Las Noas

Back in Texas

I'm back in Texas by the grace of God! Christmas morning at church, I was talking with the pastor's son, and he told me that Monday morning they would be traveling to San Antonio. I was exstatic! I told him that I was going to be making the same trip, and then on the Houston. God had provided me traveling partners for crossing the expansive deserts of Northern Mexico. The pastor's son, Juan Carlos, rode along with me in my car. He is only 16-years-old, but he is unusually mature, and I enjoyed getting to know him. He has a heart for God's kingdom.

I also enjoyed getting to visit more with his father Juan, the pastor. The stories of our spiritual journeys share many common elements. I spent the night in San Antonio with a couple that hosted us because it was already midnight when we got there. Tuesday morning I drove on to Houston, and I spent time with my dad's parents and my cousin Mike.

Yesterday I traveled back to West Texas, and I am here with my parents and sister finally. It is a blessing to be able to be back with them.

The extra time that I spent in Mexico was really special, and I got to spend much desired time with my friend Leslie and her mother and brothers. I praise the Lord for providing for all of my needs while I was in Mexico. Even though my car broke down over the holiday weekend, a brother from church agreed to fix it on the morning of la Noche Buena (Christmas Eve). It was not an expensive repair, which is a great relief to me since I have not been able to start working yet since graduation. Everyone I was with there was very generous with me, and the spirit of giving was evident in all. Our God is good!

Change of Plans

Hey everybody! Well, I continue here in Mexico. I had planned to leave early tomorrow morning (Friday), and today those plans changed. My car overheated today while I was driving downtown Torreon with my friend Leslie, and I have not been able to see a mechanic yet. Tomorrow morning I will take my car to Brother Nacho from the church here, and after he has a look at the car, I will hopefully be able to have a prevision of when I will return to Texas. Thank you all for your continued prayers.

I don't know if I will be here or there for Christmas, but for sure I will be celebrating the birth of our Savior wherever I am!

Signing off,
Brian

Living the True Christmas

Yesterday was a relaxing day. In the afternoon we went to the mall to back tickets for the movie "Las Crónicas de Narnia. " The mall where the cinema is located is beautiful! Then Rolando, his friend Pepe and I went to bowl. Well, I came out victorious!... if the lowest score were the win the game :P Just kidding. I lost both sets, but it was fun.

Then we went to visit Rolando's older sister and her kids. I am so thankful to have met more of Rolando's family.

Then last night ten of us went to the movie together. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is such a beautiful story! It is a powerful illustration of the fact that reality is so much more than we see with our normal eyes. The Creator had to deal with a great cosmic rebellion, and we play a big role is the restoration of creation to his "shalom." I liked some specific scenes, like when Aslan (who represents the Christ) breaths on the dead creatures to give them life again. That reminded me of Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit on the disciples after his resurrection in the book of John.

I also like the statement that the Lion (Aslan) is not tame, but he is good. We cannot figure him out, and he is dangerous at times, but he is good!

This morning I called Don Pedro H. Rivas, the president of a local university here, and a long time friend of my family. Rolando and I plan to go visit him this afternoon. Brother Riva and his dad were great friends of my Papaw. It is a pleasure to get to bring them greetings for my family in the name of Christ.

I hope you guys are being able to celebrate Christmas in its true meaning with your families. Christ has been born in our hearts!!!! May we boldly share this wonderful news so that others around us might have the blessing of celebrating true Christmas, the gift of Christ being born in their hearts. May we especially be attentive to family members that don't know Jesus themselves.

God is with us!!!

Meeting with La Comunidad Cristiana

Last night was really neat. Rolando and I first went to a ceremony for the graduating class of the medical school where his mother teaches. She was their favorite teacher so they asked her to be the guest of honor and make a speach. She is highly respected there.

Then I went to meet Rolando's paternal grandmother. She is also the grandmother of three of my other friends at ACU: Elizabeth, Carlos and Rodrigo Macías. It was really good to meet here.

After that I went to a celebration of the local church here at the home of a sister in Christ. We sang, and a lesson, and then ate tamales. I got to meet Leslie, one of Rolando's friends that I have been corresponding with for a couple of months, and that was really a blessing. I was really thankful to get to meet with the community of faith and worship the Lord together. I haven't been able to load my pictures of last night on Rolando's camera, so I will try to put them here later.

Be blessed!!
Brian

Some Photos

My time here on the net is limited, but I'll try to keep you informed as I can. Tonight we are going to go to a posada with the church group. It is a tradition here in which groups act out the scene of Mary and Joseph wandering around Bethlehem seeking a place to stay (posada).

Then we will be going to the movies to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. They say that the theaters of leather seats and tables with waiters and waitresses. Wierd! but cool.

Well, I better go for now. Abracos!

De Torreón, Coahuila

Hey everybody!

Everything went well with graduation Friday night. I had the weekend to visit several special people and prepare everything for my road trip. Now I am in Torreon, Mexico with my friend Rolando. We are staying in his mother's house. I look forward to meeting several of his friends this week.

Last night we spent the night in Piedras Negras just across the border from Texas. We were hosted in the house of some special family members of my mentors Jorge and Peggy. It was a wonderful stay.

Today we left Piedras Negras at 9:00 in the morning for Torreon. We stopped along the way at a place called Cuatro Cienegas in the middle of a vast desert. It is a place were beautiful blue springs of water emerge into pools of water that are as clear as glass. And the place was sooooo peaceful! You could not hear a sound.

Between Cuatro Cienegas and Torreon we passed through the most desolate place I have ever seen. Just white sands and sparce desert vegetation. The mountains were beautiful and majestic! I hope to upload pictures for you soon.

After the Freeze

Well, tonight is the big night. I will be seated in the colliseum at 7:30 with a thousand other students ready to walk across the stage. Graduation is finally here. I will take time to relax as Rolando and I make a road trip starting Monday. It should be quite fun.

Next semester I will stay here doing some teaching and translation work. During that time I will be seeking open doors to go serve the Lord abroad. I am looking for a team of people with whom to plant churches who are filled with the Spirit.

It has been bitterly cold here for the last few days. The temperature did not rise above 0°C for more than 60 hours. We spent a couple of nights with low temperatures of about -10°C. Now things have warmed up, and currently we are at 8°C. Most of the fall leaves lost their color during the cold spell, and things are as dry as they get. The current humidy is 15%. You cannot apply enough lotion to keep your skin for cracking and bleeding.

The sun has been a blessing today. Even though the temperature is fairly cool, that sun feels warm on our skin after the bitterly cold days behind us.

Ah, my friends Joel and Jessica have been preparing to go to China, and God has finally opened a door for them to go teach in Taiwan! It is a beautiful story.

Terminando

Hoje eu terminei minha última aula do mestrado! Glória a Deus. Ainda falta um grande projeto pra fazer, e depois uma prova final que faço em casa. Dentro de pouco estarei LIVRE!!! Mas pela graça de Deus, mesmo com muito trabalho ainda por fazer durante esta semana, sinto a paz do Senhor. Para Ele seja toda a glória pela vida que eu tenho, e pela oportunidade de continuamente servi-Lo e as pessoas ao meu redor. Tb quero Lhe dar graças pq se está mostrando fiel para me prover trabalho para o ano que vem. Deus é fiel.

Lhes peço que estejam orando pela viagem que vou começar segunda-feira, 12 de dezembro. Vou dirigindo pro México com um amigo meu para a casa dele. N sei quanto tempo vá passar no México, mas espero que seja uma bênção para ele e prà família dele.

Obrigado por todas a suas orações, e pelas suas palavras de encorajamento. Que Deus continuamente abençoe vcs.

Fall Colors at ACU

These are the last natural colors that will be seen here at the university until the new foliage of spring opens forth in March and April. They are beautiful examples for a desert place like Abilene. Praise God for his beautiful creation!!!














Soon the last leaves will drop off with the freezing winds, and winter will officially set in. When snow comes, I will try to open up that winter wonderland to you here on the site.

A Bug's Beauty

Papaw's Peculiar Corner
Last night Papaw was telling me a story about when he was still living in Los Angeles. His older brother Donald was married, and there was a little 4-year-old girl with reddish-blond hair that would go and sit in Donald's lap. "She was as cute as a bug's ear." I don't know what a bug's ear looks like, but it must be pretty cute :P

College Lunch and Fellowship

Dave and Christie_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Estéfani, Marcela, Megan

Today after morning worship, the college group from FountainGate was invited to eat lunch with one of our friends Joey at his apartment. It was a really nice occasion to all eat together in one room and be able to enjoy fellowship. He also played some music that brought back memories from our childhood, and that was fun. Oh, and Joey makes some exquisite chicken enchiladas!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Daniel García

I should post a warning stating that I have not previewed most of these videos; therefore, I do not endorse the content contained in each. I hope that most of it can be enjoyable for you guys.

Film Fest

Good evening everybody! I'm back after a busy weekend.

There is a website available that I discovered this afternoon, and I am really excited about the door that it opens up for you. We have a competition (Film Fest) on our university campus each year for which teams of students produce films to compete for specific awards. All of these movies are available at the website linked on this post. You can see scenes from our university campus, and the film "Thanatos" even opens up with a shot of the beautiful monarch butterflies that I was wanting to shoot with my camera during their migration.

Enjoy!

Facial Lawn

Papaw's Peculiar Corner
Our family is known for having really tough, thick hair. Especially facial hair. Some mornings Papaw forgets to shave his face before he comes to breakfast, so after he eats and cleans the dishes, he'll say, "I guess I better go mow my face now." Again, all I can do is chuckle inside.

(Mow is the verb we use for cutting the grass in the lawn with the big, loud lawn mower.)

Silhouette Against the Setting Sun

Some more fall pics for all you lovers of the seasonal changes. I took these Sunday. Today I cut the grass, so maybe a can get a picture of our yard for you soon.


Mesquite tree, Maple tree, Pecan tree

Symmetry

Reflections_ (top of my car)

Cotton Ball Clouds.

An Eary Saying

Papaw's Peculiar Corner
A little tongue-and-cheek for you this time . . .

Tonight I met a couple (Enrique and Noemi Martorell) who is visiting here from Spain. I found out that they met my Papaw many years ago in northeastern Spain, and he had stayed in their home. Noemi told me a funny saying that Papaw used to say when he was with them. It was not a saying they had heard before, but it was so funny that they continue using it to this day. I decided to use that as the peculiar saying for today.

Voy a planchar mi oreja. (Voy a acostarme en la cama)
I'm going to iron my ear. (I'm going to bed.)
Vou passar ferro na minha orelha. (Vou deitar na cama.)

Achei isso muito engraçadinho :P

Have a great day!

A New Religion?

Did Jesus ever intend to found a new religion? David Bosch speaks to this question:

I have suggested that Jesus had no intention of founding a new religion. Those who followed him were given no name to distinguish them from other groups, no creed of their own, no rite which revealed their distinctive group character, no geographical center from which they would operate (Schweizer 1971:42, Goppelt 1981:208). The twelve were to be the vanguard of all Israel and, beyond Israel, by implication, of the whole ecumene. The community around Jesus was to function as a kind of pars pro toto, a community for the sake of all others, a model for others to emulate and be challeged by. Never, however, was this community to sever itself from the others.

This high level of calling was, however, not maintained for long. Already at a very early stage Christians tended to be more aware of what distinguished them from others than of their calling and responsibility toward those others. Their survival as a separate religious group, rather than their commitment to the reign of God, began to preoccupy them. In the words of Alfred Loisy (1976:166), "Jesus foretold the kingdom and it was the Church that came". In the course of time the Jesus community simply became a new religion, Christianity, a new principle of division among humankind. And so it has remained to this day.

David J. Bosch. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1991) 50.

What do you think about this? Were we intended to be a new religion? or simply a movement of people committed to the reign of God?

Shari's Poem

This is a poem written by a sister in Christ in Jasper in response to Hurricane Rita. I'm sorry, but I can't figure out how to maintain the beautiful format of the poem. Be blessed...

Katrina & Rita’s Wrath & Aftermath

Winds of the world came . . .
Ravishing the land . . .
Blowing my life away . . .
Storm clouds of hurricanes . . .
Raining torrents . . .
Flooding family and friends . . .
Wind whirled . . .
Rains pounded . . .
Lightning cracked . . .
Mighty oaks crashed,
Power ceased,
People panicked,
Tempers flared,
And darkness descended . . . all around me
In the natural world where winds blow and floods flash.

Evacuated, fleeing for life, homeless, running scared . . .
What to take? What to leave behind? How to know?
Now a new town . . . knowing no one;
Just a trunk-full of treasures to call my own.

“Where is my God?”

Here, He is right here; here with me; He is within me!
He hovers over me and shelters me from all harm.

“I am with you always”
He promises
“And I shall never leave you.”

O, what perfect peace, what refreshing rest for my soul!
Knowing my Lord personally
Sustains me . . .
In the midst of all life’s storms.
Partaking in such an intimate relationship enables me to
Trust the Jesus of Galilee, the man who stills storms
With just a word.
And through this trust He uses me to turn to others –
To speak – To bless – Others who are more afraid,
More in need, more desperate, more without hope
Than I.
We reach out to each other – to hug, to comfort, to share a meal
And in doing so share the love of the Lord.

Rebuilding life . . .
Trying again to gain some normalcy.
But how?

Waiting in lines an entire day . . .
Filling out papers till hands cramp . . .
Staying on hold till you want to scream . . .
Red tape, frustration, red tape, then finally: “You don’t qualify.”
World government tries to help, but falls short.

Suddenly realization dawns: “Where can I go, but to the Lord?”
Yes, stop the hassle, take a breath, and smile . . .
My dependence is on God Almighty;
In Him alone can I trust!

I pray . . .
I ask . . .
I wait . . .
To see Him open Heaven’s gate!
Helping hands, safe shelter, encouraging words, hot meals, fervent prayers,
and the money comes . . . blessings for others and also for us.
Praise the Lord!
God’s bounty pours forth from His Body on earth!
Provision is here. God’s children taking care of one another.
Father smiles . . .
He is pleased . . .

Even though winds of the world come
They cannot blow my life away
For my life is safe and secure,
Hidden in Christ.
And even storm clouds of hurricanes
Cannot flood away my family
For my family is God’s family
And my inheritance is the Kingdom of God
Which endures forever!

So . . . blow winds blow . . .
Flood rains flood . . .
Flash lightning flash . . .
Crash trees crash . . .
Come what may . . .
I shall not fall
I shall endure to the end
With strength from Jesus, my Lord, my friend.

By Shari Gunter 10-4-05

A Perfect Day for Recovery

Thank you guys for your prayers. God has answered, and today I have been doing much better. I have been in class, and I was able to teach my ESL class in the afternoon. My voice is still very weak, but by God's grace, I should be fully recovered soon.

We have been having unseasonably warm weather recently, but today a cold front has blown through again and cooled temperatures back down to normal (23ºC/75ºF). I am thankful that I have been able to be out and about on this beautiful fall day.

How is the weather today in the place where you live?

Papaw's Peculiar Corner
Often at night when I am just sitting in the living room reading, Papaw will come in from his place of study in the dining room leaning on his trusty cane and say, "I think I'm gonna go wash off a few layers of dirt."

This always makes me laugh because it's as if he'd been working out in the fields for a week without showering. Even though it's a mild exageration, life would be so boring if he didn't put things in his own peculiar way.

"Thank you, Lord, for putting me in Papaw's home for this special time."

Spiral Down

Hey Guys,

I took a down turn during the night and worsened quite a bit. I stuggled to breath, and I wasn't able to sleep until sunrise this morning. After sleeping today I am doing a little better, but I continue with severe congestion. Please pray with me that the Lord might restore my health.

Thank you for your prayers and concern,
Brian

Papaw's Peculiar Sayings

One of the joys of living with my 92-year-old grandfather is hearing the funny things he has to say. He has a peculiar way of saying things that must be a hodge-podge of mannerisms that he has picked up through almost of century of interacting with people from literally all over the globe.

I have decided to begin making a collection of "Papaw's Sayings" as a special memory for my family to remember, laugh at and cry over as we remember our patriarch after he has preceded us into our Father's presence.

Would you like to read some? I thought I might start including them regularly in my blog. Why not start today...?
____________________________________________________
Papaw's Peculiar Corner
When we look at the wall-size window in our dining room that looks over our backyard, Papaw sees the squirrels scurrying across the power lines or the top of the fence, and he makes the remark:

"Those squirrels can't walk across that power line like that, [he hesitates] but they don't know that... so they go ahead and do it anyway."

Then he smiles and chuckles softly in admiration of the marvelous way God created the little critters. I will never watch a squirrel cross a fence top or a power line without remembering my Papaw with a little chuckle and a tear in my eye.

Os Ditados de Papaw

Você sabe como é quando alquém que você conhece e ama diz alguma coisa que te faz sorrir por dentro, e rir por fora...?

Eu moro com meu avozinho de 92 anos, e ele tem uns ditados comuns que são muito engraçados. Deve ser por ele ter vivido durante quase um siglo com intercâmbio constante com pessoas do mundo inteiro. Vou começar a incluir os ditados dele nos meus post, mas tenho que dizer que a maioria deles vai ser em inglês. Talvez houver uns em espanhol de vez em quando; vamos ver...

Life Group at the Rangel's

_________Peggy, Paola, Jorge, and Phil___________

Here are some pictures of the life group at Jorge and Peggy's house on Wednesday nights. We gather to eat, commune, sing praises and study scripture.

Jorge shares and eats.____It's good to bless the pizza.

O PQ do Novo Blog

Aqui eu vou estar publicando mais dos meus pensamentos diários para vocês lerem. Como meu outro blog era o site da missão, esse blog será o meu site pessoal. Vou tentar postar em várias línguas para todo mundo poder desfrutar. Espero que vcs gostem. Enjoy the new blog.

The Posting Continues Here

I have decided to make my blog a little more personal, so now the posting will continue here.

I have been at home sick most of this weekend. Some type of allergy flare up I think. I was supposed to do a series of interviews today for my missionary research class, but I have no voice because of my hoarseness, so I suppose I will have to postpone it. During this time of sickness I do feel pretty weak, but it does serve a purpose. I have spent more time in prayer asking God to purify me and reveal what he desires for me. I believe that this time of weakness and staying at home has drawn me back closer to the Father.

I really missed being with the church yesterday. I was too weak to go, and I am afraid what I have might be contagious, so I stayed at home. That makes two weeks that I have not met with Fountain Gate. My lifeline during these two weeks has been the life group at Peggy and Jorge's house on Wednesday nights. Five of us have been fellowshipping and studying scripture together there.

Now I am going to get back to my readings for the mission theology that I am writing this semester. I am reading David J. Bosch's work that transformed mission theology, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission.