Spanish with purpose

Yesterday held great excitement for me as a non-native Spanish-speaker.  Three different Spanish conversations fell in my lap.  First, speaking with a man waiting in a pregnancy center.  Second, speaking on the street with a man playing beautiful music on a wooden recorder.  Third, speaking with a woman who heard the recorder music and walked down the street with her poodle to come see.  My excitement runs high because my quest toward Spanish hasn’t been merely for the sake of language.  A year and a half ago, the Lord led my husband and me to a Spanish worship service.  We quickly loved the congregation and still do.  From there till now, I’ve ventured among Spanish dictionaries, Spanish Bible, Spanish library books, and all kinds of Spanish conversations into which I usually have to insert some English.  While the Lord has encouraged me with new friendships, I do still stumble through the language.  So now for the man at the pregnancy center to ask me, ¿Como lo aprendió?, and for my ears to actually catch his quick question as to how I'm learning the language, was really quite remarkable.  And for my heart not to hesitate to compliment in Spanish the man’s beautiful recorder music was astounding to me.  Suddenly my ears were quick, and the words flowed without struggle.  I see more and more the Lord's purposes.  He does encourage along our way.  He will finish what He starts in us, as Philippians 1:6 says. 

Walls with doors

Where will the Lord lead?  I’ve asked Him to set my feet in motion.  This year He has led me to study during the week with a church around the corner, and it’s been wonderfully sweet to meet a new group of Christians and see the Lord at work in my neighborhood.  One question: “Why not study with my weekend congregation?”  Answer: This is where the Lord led me.  I don’t have all the answers.  On the weekends, I study and worship in a building that houses different congregations in 3 languages.  I attend the English at 8:00 and the Spanish at 10:30.  There already I interact with different groups of people, all under one roof.  Why on weekends do my husband and I drive for 30 minutes, going east across town to church?  Answer:  That’s where the Lord led us.  Again I don’t have all the answers.  Over the years I’ve been blessed through ministries of various congregations: writers’ groups on both the north and the northeast sides of town, messianic celebrations on all 4 sides, street ministries downtown, and a government and politically oriented group more north central.  Churches don’t have to compete.  It’s one of the many freedoms we find in the Lord: go where He calls us, without worrying about all the reasons.  I’m aware of a church in Austin, Texas, that contributes financially to the ministries of other churches whose locations and servant groups are well placed as they are.  This particular church sees no need to build their own similar ministry.  When Jesus talks about the church, He often refers not to a single, small group of people but rather the church overall.  We live and work and serve in buildings that have walls, but the walls don’t have to confine us.  Walls do have doors.  Enter as the Lord leads.

The vehicle of music

She sat a few rows back. I stood at the piano in front, looking out across the congregation while still listening to the sermon. Here at the end of the worship service, most everyone’s eyes were fixed upon the preacher. Her eyes had drifted my way, and without knowing her name, I was very happy for us to meet as we did. I smiled, and so did she. It was opportunity to welcome her to our church. Over the years, I’ve asked the Lord to be my music teacher, and He has shown His purposes to be more than musical. Though He has wonderfully stretched my fingers to play notes and chords I didn’t think possible, music has not been simply an end product. More often music has been a vehicle to deliver something else. Last Sunday with our study group, I shared a story that posed the question, “What would this world be like if no one cared who got credit for what they did?” Many in the group suddenly stopped what they were doing, whether sitting or standing, to ponder. The story fit with the song we planned to sing, and I sang the first verse, only to notice the effects of the question still lingering throughout the room. People remained quiet to think. Our group had asked my husband and me to lead music, long before we ever knew we'd retell that story.  Music had served as the vehicle for delivering the story, just as my standing at the piano allowed me to welcome a girl from across the room. I’ve seen the Lord use a simple, little melody to set a deeply thought-provoking tone. Other times He’s used a laughable clunker of a note to ease someone’s burden. In infinite ways, He uses music—for the sake of people.

In a hospital elevator

“We’ll never go out of business—that’s for sure.”  These two hospital workers chuckled about their own job security, given the seemingly endless line of incoming patients.  And they’re correct about the fact that here on earth we certainly do deal with sickness, from the aches and pains of the common cold, all the way through to life-threatening disease and never-before-seen symptoms.  But what if the prayers of a hospital staff were so fervent that patients were quickly and regularly being sent home?  Would the staff actually have reason to worry about their jobs?  It’d be like firefighters worrying about a day without fires and police officers worrying about a day without crime.  Our call to prayer remains.  Concern for our jobs is not foremost.  A pastor once said, “I don’t want to stand before God's judgment seat and tell Him I was worried about losing my job, and that’s why I didn’t speak out or follow Him through doors He opened for me.”  This pastor has a point.  Is it possible the Lord could call me to lose my job?  Sure.  I lost a teaching job about 5 years ago, and I will gladly testify again and again to the Lord's blessings throughout.  Sometimes He calls people to lose their lives.  For that matter, God our Father called Jesus to surrender His life.  Most important is for us to know the Lord and follow Him, resting assured that He knows every hair on our heads and will provide for our needs—jobs and all.  As Romans 14 talks about His judgment seat, I want to be able to freely and joyfully account for myself before Him when that day comes.  The next time I visit a friend in a hospital, might I hear workers in the elevator telling wonderful stories of prayer and how the Lord heals?  I’ll hope big.

A toothbrush, a mattress, & generosity

A young lady rode 2 buses across many miles of our city, from south to north, all for the sake of donating a new toothbrush and a small tube of toothpaste.  She called out from across the parking lot in hope she wasn’t too late to give with the radiothon that would benefit local flood victims.  Another family drove up with a well-used mattress, held in place atop their station wagon by 6 arms stretched up and out the open windows.  Their generous contribution may have left part of the family sleeping on bare floor that night.  Altogether, people donated a truckload of food, thousands of dollars, and over a hundred pints of blood.  It was a wonderful occasion that caused me to check my pulse once again.  How do I give?  Do I dig deep to give wholeheartedly, or do I merely skim off the top?  Is there anything I grip too tightly for myself?  And why did I almost cry to read about the young lady traversing the city on 2 buses?  It’s partly because I’ve ridden our buses, and I know how the different routes can take half-hours and hours to connect, and I love this young lady’s willingness and determination to give. God has these gentle ways of inspiring us—sometimes through written stories, like the one by Sonny Melendrez in Welcome Home that reflected recently on San Antonio's flood days of 1998; sometimes through song lyrics; sometimes through photographs of people we’ll never meet and who have no idea we notice their example.  The last verses of 1 Timothy talk about a generous heart laying up treasure.  I ask the Lord to lead me to be generous.