I traveled to Recife with a carload of people to a leaders retreat called ELICAMP (Encounter of Leaders in the Field). Some unexpected things happened. The first thing is about Nicholas, my 13 year old son. He loves to play soccer and was invited to play with the Right Step program from Cajazeiras. The program was coming to Recife to play against a professional soccer team. You may be thinking, he must be good to play against professional adults. If that is what you were thinking then you were wrong. He is good but - come on people. He was going to play against people his own age that are a part of the, let's call it, the very minor leagues. The day we arrived in Recife, Café called me to tell me that the trip had been rescheduled. So here Nicholas was, a 13 year old among men who would be listening to lessons on how to have peace in your; (Spiritual life, Finances, Congregation, Family and Ministry). Nicholas teared up when I told him that he was going to have to stay with me the whole weekend. He ended up having a lot of fun and he sat through all of the lessons and listened attentively. He even pushed the button to pass the slides while I was teaching my class on "Peace in Finances." We took advantage of our time, and I helped him prepare his first Sunday School lesson he taught to the young people the same Sunday of that weekend. Everyone said he did very good.
The next interesting thing was the result of my class. I had four hours and 20 minutes of class time to cover twenty hours of material. I hit the high points, the main one of the whole course being? Do you remember? Contentment! Everyone really seems to love that lesson, and I think it is because it does not matter how much God has entrusted to you at this moment, whether it is a lot or a little, we all need to be content and invest in His Kingdom. I also got into Dave Ramsey's material on how to administer your finances, and two people handed me cards while I was teaching. No, they were not "thank you" cards or "get well soon" cards. One was a membership card to Sam's Club - my dad will love that. The other was a credit card. This is the first time that has spontaneously happened while teaching this course. It is exciting to see people understanding the biblical teaching about contentment, that is, to serve God better, trusting Him and not a piece of plastic.
P.S. - I heard the next day that some broke their credit cards in their rooms that night. I don't know how many, but I was glad to hear it.
Please pray:
- that God may always be the one in whom we trust for our needs and that we may be thankful to Him for His Mercy and Grace;
- that the church in Brazil may mature to support its own workers, missionaries, preachers and elders;
- that each Christian may administer well what God has entrusted to him/her by investing in God's Kingdom in the many ways that is possible.
