A Blog About Nothing

There were no earthquakes, no storms, no remarkable occurrances or discoveries to report on this week.  It continues to be hot and humid, although we did get an afternoon rain which cooled things off for a few hours. It really helped in that it washed out a lot of the heat stored up in our concrete apartment.

We met all of our usual committments and we were blessed again by how well our students are doing with their English. Our initial temptation and the expectation of most of the students was that we should teach useful words and phrases. We do some of that, but we opted instead to teach the language from the ground up. We begin by building a base with the most fundamental elements. Then we begin constructing a wall row upon row, the next row building upon the last. We tell our students when we begin "ladrillo sobre ladrillo" (Brick upon brick.) As we work our way through the concepts of the English language, they begin to understand and are able to connect the elements in a meaningful way. It is a thrill to see them figuring things out for themselves using what they have learned. The ones who stick with it will be able to speak a little English and understand what they are saying.

This is not a shortcut method. It takes time, work and a committment on both sides of the relationship. I can't help but thinking about Christianity and spiritual development. We all seem to want the shortcut method. We are not willing to take the time and make the effort necessary to build our relationship with the Lord line upon line, precept upon precept. We want it now and we want it delivered. It is no wonder there are so many popular instant spirituality, new revelation, new wave hyper-faith preachers (read false prophets) getting rich on our desire to be super-saints without the effort. There are no shortcuts.

We won't become mature christians who overcome our issues and become Christ-like by reading a book, adopting the latest fad or joining the new movement. We need to put the time and effort into the spiritual disciplines. They don't get us into heaven or even make us more pleasing to God, but what they do is open us up to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are His workmanship.

Personally, I don't think God cares how much you read your Bible, go to church or do for Him. He is after your heart, not your efforts.