POST by JED: The Faithfulness of God

The faithfulness of God is something I haven’t really comprehended until now - and even now, I know I’m just getting a wee peek of the tinciest little spectrum. I have often listened as people have said that God will never let us go hungry, he won’t allow us to be without a roof over our head, he’ll always make sure we have clothes on our backs, etc, etc, etc. But I just don’t believe it to be true. I do not believe that the faithfulness of God is tied to our safety and comforts.

A pastor and his family we know of in Uganda, who live for and love the Lord, often go hungry. Their kids fall asleep crying because their tummy’s are suffering from the pain of hunger. They are pastors of a vibrant, God fearing Church.

In Thailand, we know people who run a children’s orphanage. Babies are born with the aids virus, even though they have done nothing personally to contract the evil disease. Still, they suffer, and in the arms of people who love the Lord and who pray for them constantly.

Nicaragua is very well Churched. Really, I want to go as far as saying that they are more Churched than modern-day-America. We know Christian people both at the high end of society and at the low end. Neither chose to be born into their circumstances. However, the poor suffer whilst the rich live their lives in complete luxury. Both worship God and serve him faithfully.

Now whilst I cannot claim to have had my leg blown off due to a landmine, I can testify to having had nothing in the cupboard for dinner, dressing children in clothes waaaaaaaay too small for them, having to walk because I don’t have a car, not having the money needed to pay entrance into a country upon arrival, and so forth. 

Have my basic needs always been met? Yes! In a timely manner that suits me? No! Yet I have always claimed the faithfulness of God to be my own.

Test me, LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.(Psalm 26: 2-3)

The last few years have had definite highs and lows. Honestly, this last year we’ve either been celebrating success or bawling our eyes out because of various human failures. It’s been really hard. Even at the American School, to give an example of a “low”, after class - I was trapped in my classroom with Lorenzy and my own red, cry-stained eyes (before school had been let out). 

It had been that way for the entire day (between classes). I hadn’t eaten. My colleague had come in and asked me how I was and I had been unable to control the tears. (I know, I know, very manly…)

After my last class I had tried to escape. Run to this pole, pretend to be looking at a plant. “Oh my, a Chrysanthemum, and at this time of year (sniff), well - how utterly marvelous…” Run to that trash can, pretend to be a homeless man searching for food. “Delicious, half a pretzel, three cheezels, a thoroughly gnawed hot dog and a chocolate milk/coca cola comboooooh no, it’s my student!” 

Run to the bathroom and pretend to be suffering from bulimia. (too much, especially considering the size of my tum-tums) Now to that tree, pretend to be a Koala… “Lorenzy push my fat bot-bot harder! I´m sure I can make it to the first limb!” It was exhausting!

So a few months ago I (though it was a “we” decision, “I” had to personally make the commitment) really determined it was time for me to have more faith. Terrifying! Though I can´t say anything too much here - because the content on this page can be viewed by anyone, it took enormous sacrifices and cost us greatly. 

We’re now completely trusting that the Lord will provide And Enter from Stage Left, the faithfulness of God…

So today I´d just like to share that, in terms of our vision, God is providing great things for us, too much to detail here, and leading us EVERY step of the way (some doors are being flung open so wide that they´re falling off their hinges, whilst others are being slammed so hard that we´re receiving broken/bloody noses!) 

The faithfulness of God is not limited to our material comfort. The faithfulness of God is about the keeping of His promises to us.

He said “go” and we obeyed. He gave us visions and dreams and we have clung to those. And now we´re continuing the great journey he has for us, and truly, ruly, things are just falling into place. Gloria-a-Dios!

Por ejemplo…

So we are starting this school in a small community, just outside of Managua, Nicaragua, Central America, Planet Earth (and if you need more of an education on location, then YOU NEED TO ENROL IN OUR SCHOOL!!! Capital Edge Community School, just in case you didn´t know…). 

We have 30 kids enrolled, and they range in age from 2 – 3 years old (half of the kids), to 4 – 8 years (the other half). Many of the older children have never been to school before.

Currently, we are in the process of becoming accredited with the Ministry of Education. In Nicaragua, like lots of other countries, beurocracy is everything, with efficiency sometimes taking a back seat. In this instance, it´s a train and I´m in the driver´s seat, whilst my objective went into the toilet bowl and was flushed onto the track when we left our point of origin… 

It´s possibly going to take a while for us to get our license to educate.  But still, GOD IS FAITHFUL and we have government coverage whilst we´re in the process!

My pastor here in Nicaragua is over-the-moon about our plans for the school. At this point, the school will operate out of the Church of God building where we meet 4 nights per week to worship God.

And so we´ve been having many meetings about our school. First we met with Juan Pablo and Ivania, the Church´s youth group leaders. We´ve become almost best friends with “Juanpi” and Ivania. Then we met with the Pastora, a beautiful older lady, with a strong, STRONG voice (especially when praying… And the endurance of it all! The woman can pray, without ceasing, at the top of her lungs, for 10 minutes straight – I KID YOU NOT!)  She loves us, but she´s a tough woman who has literally lived through war, drought and famine.

We were then taken by our Pastora and the youth group leaders to meet with the District Pastor.

He´s a good looking fella, with a bit of a gut (most Nica men are strapping lads, with well built bods cause they do a lot of manual labour. Most Nica pastors eat like most Nica men, but then sit in lots of Nica meetings and develop lots of Nica fat cells in their Nica bellies. Anyway, pot or no pot, the man loves the Lord and loves us, so it was all “go” with him.

But that wasn´t enough... We needed to meet the Church of God director for Nicaragua. Now for those of you who are friends of mine on Facebook, and for any of you who read my post of a few days ago, you´ll note that I said I went to meet the Church of God director for Managua. That was incorrect. The Pastora has advised that we needed approval from the top, down.

Well on Monday morning we went to meet with the head honcho and have to admit that we had a pretty terrific time. The top dude is thrilled with what we're currently doing at our local Church and is pleased with what we are planning to do. Basically, the Church of God in Nicaragua is RIGHT behind us.

So the Senior Pastor of this denomination invited me to stay for the Pastor's Service. I was pleased to have the invitation, though a little apprehensive as I´d left 4 of my 5 children at home in the care of Monica (our magnificent domestic lady). 

We casually sat in the back row, Franny and I, mostly so that we could get out if we needed to (Nicaraguan Churches do not ever take the short-cut), but also because we felt a little out-of-place. (We´re not pastors after all… We didn´t have the uniform on – either checkered or striped shirts from the 70s…)

Now the Church of God are known for their passionate love of God and to me, for their passionate, but eclectic choice in building décor. Hideous doesn´t go the distance. Lots of old lacy table cloths adorn the temples, coupled with beautiful apricot coloured bed sheets up on the wall. 

Cream tiles, with maroon patterns titivate the stage area and beige linoleum is tastefully spread out over the rest of the floor in the building. The room contains are about a million fake flowers in large plastic jars, that were previously (in another decade) used to pickle chilies.

I could go on, but I´m feeling like I´m losing my spirit of faithfulness, and definitely don´t want to lose it while I´ve got it! (but to make a long story short, just visualise lots of dull shapes and colours from the grooving era…)

Now at the height of the meeting there are about 100 pastors in the auditorium. I'm loving the inclusion but am nearly asleep. (remember, Spanish isn´t even close to being my second language…)

I am well and truly in “that special place” when I hear my name mentioned. I look up. “Oh”, I think to myself. “They´re Welcoming me. How kind. I was only here to talk about our school, we ran out of time, and HEY PRESTO! They´ve made a special mention.” 

I wave. Fran says, “Dad, get up!” “Yes, I think to myself. Quite right, quite right. I´m with pastors after all, I should stand and wave like HRH. Pastors in Nicaragua are reverential to say the least… I stand and wave, not quite getting the wave right, but pretty close.

The pastor continues to talk about me and then the applauding starts. “Yes, yes… You in your small corner and I in mine…” I say to myself. I start to sit down and Fran pushes me back up. “Dad, you´re today´s speaker…” I´d say that a lump began to develop in my throat, but it was bigger than that – it was the size of a big boulder. 

I love to talk, don´t get me wrong, but I’ve never really sermonised before, and so I was a little shocked and rather nervous.

I strolled to the front, and considering that this guy had only just met me, he certainly raved on about how terrific I am. (and rather accurately I must admit)

I look at Fran. She’s fidgeting. This only makes me more nervous. “Oh gosh…” I look around. “Why all the pastel colourations?! Why are there no fans?! Why am I up here?!” I turn to leave, but Fran looks at me uncomfortably. I turn in the other direction and the pastor takes me in his embrace. He´s hot and sweaty…  

He pushes the microphone amongst my pulsating fingers. “Gracias” is my auto-pilot response. I don´t really mean it though…

I turn and look at the 70s crew. These pastors are excited! Eyes are twinkling, faces are smiling, and posture is erect and attentive.  Nobody moves – not even me! I raise the microphone to my mouth. And then it happens - A supernatural, totally awesome, positively electric experience. 

I feel the power of God and I can barely shut-up I´m so going-for-it. Fran jumps in and also speaks with volume and excitement. This is what I´m made for, this is the faithfulness of God. He´s doing what he said he´d do, he´s using me to help change a nation. I rally the support of the pastors and share my vision for the future.

Nicaragua has an immense potential in God, and the time for this small but great country is now. I really don´t think the West comprehends the strategic importance Nicaragua has. 

Politically, the two are becoming more and more separate. 

Economically, the gap is widening. 

Spiritually, Nicaragua is coming along in leaps and bounds, whilst the West continues to turn their backs on God. Nicaragua is not going to be constrained by other nations in reaching for greatness in God. We're going to be sending missionaries to the US, Canada, Europe, the UK, Australia, NZ, etc. The people were nearly on their feet with excitement. (plenty of pastors screaming GLORIA A DIOS)

When it couldn´t get any better I decided to stop. Gothard taught me that once you´ve said everything you´ve come to say, then shut-it and sit down. But only 6 minutes… So… I sung a song, but with my eyes closed.  Franny was a bit shocked by this tactic.

I really wasn´t thinking, as I´d been up all night the night before, completing one of our school´s videos. I was zonked and clearly, by this point, under the power of (I want to say) the Holy Spirit. Whilst people may have thought I was drunk in the Holy Spirit, it was more of a combo of being under the anointing, being over tired, very nervous and rather keyed up. (Franny told me after that every single pastor was filming the song with their mobile phones)

I opened my eyes and there was a thunderous applause. Whilst I felt a wee-bit like Michael W. Smith at this point, I decided to end on a high and take my seat. (even forgetting to say “Gloria a Dios”, which potentially made me look like a selfish snob, mental note to self…)

So that is that. God is faithful and we´re running after him. We´re starting this school and having a ripper of a time in the process. Thanks a todo for praying and e-mailing us. We can tangibly feel the support and it´s to-die-for… Have a great week one-and-all, Jeddoxoxo