Blog Archives - SUSTAINING GRACE

What does everyday normal life look like? Well it's normal. Yet not the same normal as others experience. What does normal everyday life look in your life? Yesterday, I called the shop where they were working on my motorcycle(scooter). They said it was ready. So I walked the 4 blocks to pick it up. It only cost me less than $15 to get it worked on. Then I went to the bank to take out some money from the atm. Then I was on my way back home when all of a sudden, my motorcycle started making a high pitch sound. Back to the shop. They figured out that there was a spring that broke. So I walked back home to end up going out again and helping a friend move some furniture. We used an old truck that had a bad battery. So if it didn't start we had to push it to get it going. Fun things you learn in Mexico. If you have a manual transmission you can start it by pushing it and putting it in to second gear. After the third time of having to do this we figured out that once the car's battery is charged we could unplug the battery while we were loading and unload the furniture. We were three blocks away from finishing our last trip and the car stalled. It didn't start this time. So I got my truck battery and put it in and got it started so we could park the truck full of furniture. I was finally able to head home at 7 PM. Needless to say after the 6 hours of adventure, I was tired. It's hard working pushing the truck to get it going. This is just a part of a normal day. 

Last week I was picking up some medicine for Levi who had gotten a virus that has been past around lately. Some have said that it is zika virus. We don't know for sure because the doctor didn't do blood work. Around here there are so many people who have gotten various types of sickness from mosquitoes. Jessie and I have been gotten sick at one time or another. There is no real way of escaping it. We try to get rid of an excess water around but mosquitoes seem to keep coming back. So back to me at the pharmacy, as I was standing there in the waiting line to the most popular pharmacy in town, I looked to the right. There was a catholic statue of Jesus. Below you can see the photo. This is normal here. This is the biggest and most busiest pharmacies in town. No one notices. It is just a part of normal life. What other things do I not see because it has become normal and part of the everyday scenery? I need to see people around me as lost and broken. I often forget, there is no hope without Jesus. What would my life be like without the deep down joy I have from knowing Jesus?

Oh that the Lord would open my eyes to see things differently. That has been on my heart lately. I still have to stop every so often and just look at the mountains. Being from Minnesota where there are no mountains, I remember the first time seeing the mountains in Salt Lake City during a layover. I was amazed at how beautiful they were. Everything here is green from all the rain we have had. It is the time of the year that is so beautiful. All around us, the mountains are full of life. We need to stop and take a moment to see people around us who are hurting and how amazing God's creation is. 

Some have asked us how we are doing. We are doing well. The 7.1 earthquake in Mexico city was strong to the east of us. We did not feel anything. After checking google maps, we are about 450 miles away from Mexico City. I never really realized how far from Mexico City we actually were. The only thing we are dealing with is rain off-and-on that has been caused by another hurricane of the west coast. It is no longer a hurricane now. After the hurricane season ends we go through months of no rain. So to see everything so green, it is so pretty. 

This morning after spending most of the day off of social media, I checked my facebook. It is full of various news events currently happening. There is hurricane Irma which hit Florida and the east coast. Then there is the aftermath of hurricane Harvey which has caused major flooding in Texas. Then there are the reports from southern Mexico of the 8.1 earthquake that happened as well. Then in the mix of it all 9/11. After spending a few minutes just looking over it, I can only stop and imagine what someone would think if they had no firm foundation in Jesus. It is in these moments, either we are driven to Jesus or away from him. My prayer is that through all of these things, God would be glorified. Is this not a demonstration of just how powerful God is? So much destruction caused by natural disaster. Is this not what scriptures tell us is going to happen? Jesus tells his disciples something along those lines. Matthew 24:3-13

3As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
9“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10And then many will fall awaya and betray one another and hate one another. 11And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Are we ready? Each one has to be prepared before hand. Why you ask? If we are not preparing now for what is going to come, our faith will falter. Verse 10 it says that many will fall away. Fall away how? They will fall away because it's too hard to believe that Jesus allows us to be hated and killed for His name sake. I don't want to discourage but encourage here. What do these thing do for you? Do you look and see the destruction and ask why is God allowing this to happen? Do you look at it and say it's time to get ready. Jesus said they are birth pains. Are you willing to die for your faith? It might come to that some day. I am reminded of a quote by Charles Spurgeon that says: "If we cannot believe God when circumstances seem to be against us, we do not believe Him at all. " 

Everything takes longer than you expect. In the last two weeks, we have had consistent rain, everyday. The hurricane season brings in a lot of much needed rain. But with that there is a constant humidity. Your clothes never get completely dry from this humidity. We have a gas dryer that we rarely use. For one it cost to much to run all the time for a family of 6 and two when it is 95 degrees out your clothes dry really fast in the sun. The last time we used our dryer may have been over a year ago. The regulator on the top of the tank (the part that keeps fire from going in to the tank) was leaking. So this morning Jessie asked me how long would it take to get the dryer connected? I said "Not long, I just have to get another regulator and connect it. Maybe 30 minutes at most." So I ran to the hardware store and got what I needed. Then started connected up everything. It was all connected. I turned the dryer on and no heat. "What is the problem?" After disconnecting the gas line on both ended I found that it was filled with dirt. So I had to cut the end off and put a new end on the copper tubing. Not a big deal. I have done it before. After the 3 tries of cutting it and getting all connected again with no leaks, it was finally ready to go. A useful tip which is something I didn't know before I came to Mexico, is checking for leaks you use soapy water. Put the bubbles on various connections and you can see if it is leaking by the bubbles expanding. So I got the dryer all connected with no leaks, turned it on and started working great. It only took three hours to accomplish one simple task of hooking up the gas line to the dryer. It started to rain when I first started to work on it but thank the Lord it stopped. It would have been salt on the wound. I should have known that it was not going to be that easy. You think that after 9 years of leaving in Mexico, I would realize by now that I should plan for it to take longer than I think it is going to take. 

Prayer
I have been sensing God leading me to pray more. The kind of prayer you pray for others. In the last couple of weeks, Nestor, a teenager who has been coming to church for the past year,  has been bringing his cousins to church and bible studies. I am amazed at how young people convince the cousins or friends to come to church. So the past two Sundays, he has brought 3 different cousins to church. They don't say much about what they think of church but they have come back two weeks in a row. This is not common. On the contrary it takes a long time for family members to come to church. Some people of the church will invite the family members to church for years with no results. Not that church is the answer but it is a start. The fact that we actually talk about the bible during our services and we spend time praying for one another is so influential to people because they have never heard prayer outside the context of repeated or recited prayer. I myself have felt the need to pray for the spiritual life of the church and for individual believers. I need to grow in my prayer life as I am sure many of us all feel the same way. Who doesn't want a greater prayer life? 
     One of the books I read while on sabbatical was the autobiography of George Mueller. It was clear to me, he was a man of prayer. So much of the book revolves around him spending time in prayer for the needs of the ministry of orphans and how he said if it is the Lord's work HE will provide. This is what I want to be, a man of prayer. A man who is dependent on Jesus for everything. 

This is Andy (for you newer people). I have finally gotten back on here. I know some of you check to see if I have posted anything. Sorry about that. Life in the states is a bit different with just sitting still for a moment and writing an update here. Six months is gone by and we are back into somewhat of a routine. I am finally getting back into my office work. When you have so many things to catch up on, there are as my wife puts it "time sensitive" matters needing to be addressed before other things can be accomplished. I will be posting more updates. Here are two stories below. 

Licence plates
So as many of you know we bought a new used truck to bring down with us. One of the reasons was that we are permanent residents of Mexico and we are not allowed to drive foreign vehicles. If the federal police find that we are driving foreign plated car they can legally confiscate the car plus give you a fine. So with this information we had to import the car and get Mexican plates. So to do this, you have to go to the DMV in town here and have all the necessary paperwork and copies. Then they say you have to get it checked out by an inspector the following Tuesday. They tell you on the instructions that you need to be there at 8 AM. You arrive along with the 30 other people getting plates as well and you park in a row with your hood up. At 9 AM they give you a number. 10 AM a guy comes and checks your paperwork and the numbers on your car match up. He signs it. After he is finished with all the cars, you file into line by your number into an office where he signs and puts a stamp of approval. You think, Ok I can go now, nope. Another guy does the same thing. So at 12 PM you finally can leave. So because I didn't want to waste any more days on getting plates, I went back to the DMV, to sit in line for another 30 minutes.I pay the fees for the plates and at 1 PM I was making my way back home with my new plates in hand. So it only took 6 hours to get it done. This is just a taste of how our life in Mexico is different. Interesting side note: only 3 or 4 of the 30 cars there were actually from Autlan. The rest were from other parts of the region.  

Cats in heat
This is one of the horrible things about having an older house, when there are cats in heat you hear them howling and growling at 2 or 3 AM up on the roof above your bed. Our house is mostly made with a tile roof, which is great to keep it cool during the day but not so good on sound proofing your home. Not to mention the tiles move when cats walk on them. We have 2 toy poodle dogs which we lock up for the night because they will hear something and start barking all through out the outside part of our house. Our cats are all fixed. Our neighbor's cat is not, I believe. So last night I decided to keep the dogs out. At about 1 AM, there was a horrible cat and dog fight. When you are sound a sleep and all of a sudden it sounds like they are fighting IN your room, your sleep is disturbed a bit. So I went out to see if our dog Boston was ok after it settled down. No blood thank goodness, but is back paw he wasn't using while he walked. So the male cat hopefully won't be back. If not I am sure that Boston would be happy to continue the fight. And boy does it get loud when they are fighting. 

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