Firstfruits

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits 

of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, 

and your vats will be bursing with wine.  --Proverbs 3:9, 10

Last night I had the opportunity to go to one of my very favorite church services--the year end Firstfruits Service in the village of Suculque.  On the day of the service, the church doors open early and villagers in Suculque and the neighboring villages of Tres Cruces and Talmiche all converge on the church grounds to bring their offerings to the Lord.  By nightfall, the place is full of corn, beans, sugar cane, chickens, goats, cows, squashes, limes...you name it! Then during the service that night, Pastor Rafa and his wife, Xiomara, call groups of people--children, teens, women, then men--to come to the altar to deposit any financial gifts they may have brought into a big box. It is an incredibly special, powerful night.  I can't put into words what it means to me not only to be able to watch it, but to participate. I especially loved how Xiomara shared that we are no longer under OT law; that we get to bring our gifts to the Lord simply because we love Him. This particular Culto de Primisias (Firstfruits Service) was made even more special by the fact that my friend Kelvin was ordained as the new pastor there in Suculque. His kind, gentle nature has won the people over, and I am sure he will make a wonderful pastor.  As always, I left that service with a very full heart.

Then this afternoon I got to go up to Cochico for my friend Carlos Morales's graduation party.  In true Guatemalan fashion, it was less of a party and more of a church service. Carlos got a new motorcycle which will enable him to preach a whole lot more than he is able to now with the limited public transportation that is available in the remote village where he lives.  I wrote about it on facebook; maybe you saw it.  The thing is, I left a large part of that story out.  Sometimes I feel like people put me on a pedestal.  My intention was to avoid that, but in so doing, I think I did God a disservice.  The way He provides is nothing short of miraculous, and I want you to know the amazing thing He did!  So here it is--while the money to build the church in Cochico, and the money to help support Carlos's family while he studied, and the money to send him to seminary in the first place in large part came from special donors in the US, the new motorcycle was a gift that God let me give him. The supernatural part is how God enabled me to be able to do that.  See, a while back a friend gave me the Nissan Pathfinder that I currently drive.  That's right--they GAVE it to me. Free.  A 4x4 truck.  FOR FREE.  I'm still blown away every time I think about it. And honestly, I wanted to turn around and give away the Chevy Blazer I had been driving to another missionary for free. Pass the blessing along, so to speak.  But I knew that Carlos was desperate for transportation, so I prayed about it, and God gave me an idea.  I ended up selling the Blazer dirt cheap to a fellow missionary to help them out, and then I used the money I made off that sale to buy Carlos's motorcycle.  So to recap--someone in the states gave this friend of mine the money to buy the Pathfinder. This friend knew I needed a more powerful truck, so she told God that she'd give it to me for free if He provided her the money to get something else.  He did, so she kept her end of the deal and gave the Pathfinder to me.  I then sold the truck I had been using super cheap to another missionary who has since called me to tell me how much they LOVE it.  Then I used the money to buy Carlos a motorcycle. Carlos will use the motorcycle to preach the gospel in remote mountain places.  Souls will be reached for Christ.  And God started all of this chain of incredible blessing by touching someone's heart in the states to give, and that person obeyed.  Just hearing about this would be exciting, but God let me be a part of it!  Coolest. thing. ever. I have the BEST boss!