A beautiful contemplative prayer

Catholic priest Thomas Merton is a profound spiritual thinker. One of his most famous exerpts is the following prayer. . .

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"

Overconfidence

Caring for the hurting kids of Rio

We have been working with two orphanages/shelters in Rio for the past couple of years. It all started when Denny Kruse from the Rocketdyne Church in Neosho, Missouri called and said that the Christians there wanted to help hurting kids in Rio de Janeiro. We said "let's do it," and the rest is history.


In addition to Rocketdyne, the Alameda Church in Norman participated in a campaign to Rio that included a workday at one of the orphanages.


A lot of physical improvements have been made to both orphanages, the kids are brought to church services every Sunday, and the directors of the shelters have been energized to continue their ministries because of the new partnership.



What I am most excited about is that the men of the Victory Church have now taken on the shelters as a major ministry focus! For the last few weeks, men from the congregation have been working to fix up the orphanage closest to our church building. Last Saturday, a dozen of our men worked (as volunteers) all day on making repairs.



This, my friends, is an example of the Church being the Church. May our powerful God continue to bless this partnership between north and south Americans so that hurting kids can be helped and so that the name of Jesus may be glorified.



NOTE: The children that we are working with at the shelters have their own individual stories of abuse, neglect and poverty. However, in spite of the suffering they have experienced, they are joy-filled creations of the Father who are huge blessings to me and to our entire Church family. I truly believe that it is WE who are receiving by helping the little ones.




Lucas praying over his lunch. This boy lived in an abusive home where, among other things, his mom put out her cigarettes on his head. This beautiful three year old boy is now living in the AMAI shelter where he is safe, is well fed and is experiencing Christ's joy through the Victory Church of Christ.

Ila and I, and our two children, enjoy lunch with the kids at the shelter.

The future. The absolute best thing for the the kids at the two orphanages and for other hurting kids in Rio is for the Victory Church and other Churches of Christ to become stronger. Obviously, more US funds are needed, but the long term answer lies in establishing congregations filled with committed disciples who will take on the mission of helping hurting children in Rio de Janeiro. Join with me in praying that the Lord will raise up more Christian leaders and churches IN BRAZIL that have a vision for helping the children and in praying that the Lord will soften the hearts of American Christians to help financially in caring for these children.

Cheap gas

OK. Get ready for a secret. If you want to have cheap gas, go to the USA. Gas that costs $3.50 is flat out cheap. I'd buy as much as I could get my hands on if I were you.

Have I lost my mind? Too much Brazilian coffee?

When we buy gas, we pay $5.00 a gallon and have been paying roughly this amount since 1998. Brazil has a national oil-independence policy and strives to produce all of its petroleum needs from Brazilian sources. The good news for folks down here is that Brazil has just made two huge oil and gas discoveries just off the coast of Rio, so, hypothetically, some day we may be able to buy cheap gas in Rio. For the time being, however, we are stuck with paying 5 bucks a gallon just like we always have.

NOTE: Since we own a flex-fuel car, we can run on 100% sugar cane alcohol and we often do (depending on whether alcohol or gasoline is cheaper).

Celtics win NBA championship!

Way to go Celtics! I haven't had any joy from my favorite NBA team since the mid-80's. It was so much fun watching the game 6 blowout against L.A..

Now, if the KC Chiefs can only get their act together. Seeing as how they haven't been in the Super Bowl since 1969, they are way past due.

Gordon

Everyone needs a little help

Soccer team closes on Latin American championship

Dario Conca, Fluminense's lone Argentine player celebrates his goal.

I thought soccer (futebol) was o.k., but watching it was kind of boring. . .then I moved to Brazil.

One of the first things I did upon arriving in Brazil was to choose the soccer team I would root for (every man must do this in Brazil). I chose Fluminense. They were the worst of the four major league teams from Rio and, at the time, were in the third division (the minor leagues of soccer). Slowly but surely over the last ten years, Flu has been on the rise.

Last night, Kevin, Dan, myself and a couple of guys from church went to the Maracana stadium to watch Flu take on Boca Juniors (biggest team in Argentina ranked 2nd in the world in Fifa’s world rankings) in the semifinals of the Libertadores tournament (Latin America’s championship for elite teams). Having tied Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires, Fluminense was set to finish them off in front of 90 thousand rapid fans. They did just that with a 3-1 victory. It was fantastic! Now, if Fluminense gets past LDU from Quito, Equador, they will be in Fifa’s World Club Championship to face off against Manchester United in Tokyo.

Fluminense players celebrate their huge victory.

Last night. . .

90,000 fans sang and chanted for the entire game to support Fluminense.

Fans through thousands of packages of talcum powder at the start of the game (a Fluminense tradition). The stadium was engulfed in the talcum fog for the first 15 minutes of the game. Here's a video that gives a taste of just how wild the stadium go last night. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Pxl9dpcZbOE

When Boca Juniors scored to make it 1-0, nervous fans began cheering even louder.

After each of Flu’s three goals, fans shot off fireworks, embraced and generally went absolutely nuts (myself included). The sound inside the stadium was deafening.

Kevin and I caught the bus to come home. The bus was packed with Fluminense fans who sang, cheered and cursed Argentina all the way back to our neighborhood. Marvelous.

One more victory and Flu is on its way to Japan! http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/news/newsid=791034.html#fluzao+surge+into+first+final

Boca Juniors players mourn their loss to Flu.