I Want to Be Baptized

Easter Sunday is my favorite day of the year, primarily because it is the day we do baptisms at the children's home. Is there anything more exciting than a baptism? -- and on Easter Sunday?! I could hardly sleep Saturday night thinking about how beautiful the next day was going to be, and I was not disappointed.

Seven children had gone through the "I Want to Be Baptized" preparation with me: Raul, Tony, Kevin, Jonibel, Norma, Kennet and Emanuel. We had a little retreat together on the Tuesday during Holy Week, which was followed by a Maundy Thursday footwashing service with all of the children, and then the Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross) on Friday. On Sunday we decorated the church with flowers (thanks, Amanda, Lety and Jorge!), took off the black shroud and replaced it with resurrection white, and put on some Jesus praise music. Let the celebration begin!

For more photos of our morning together, please see Amanda's blog (www.hondurasamanda.blogspot.com). It was glorious from start to finish. One of the highlights, of course, was the dress I was wearing. ha. I had gotten myself a new pair of tennies for Easter, but at the last minute decided to dress up. I got lots of thumbs up, so I guess I'll have to do that more often!

Holy Week in Honduras is for many people just a vacation/party week (go to the beach; drink; eat a lot; rest), but I want our children to look forward to Holy Week because of the special services. I think everybody had an encounter with Jesus this year. We remembered His example of service as we washed one another's feet on Thursday, and we walked to Calvary with Him on Friday in yet another attempt to understand His sacrifice. His Name was held high throughout the week, and the joyful spirit in church on Sunday was palpable. Cristo ha resucitado! Aleluya!

So, Happy Easter! And may His resurrection life characterize each and every day of our lives!

Spokesperson for God

It is generally considered quite the plum of a job to become Press Secretary or Secretary of State for the great USA.

But what if you were God’s spokesperson??

I am referring, of course, to prophets. Most people think of prophecy as “telling the future,” but historically it has meant nothing of the sort, at least in regards to Christianity. Prophecy is simply expressing what is in God’s heart, either with words or with action. A prophetic ministry is one which seeks to reveal God’s Truth and purposes to individuals, churches, or even societies. For example, I believe that our ministry, LAMB, is a prophetic ministry because we express the reality of God’s Kingdom incarnationally, in word and in deed.

This morning I was with a woman who has strong prophetic gifts. Her name is Sister Lupita, and she went to our safehouse to minister to the girls and staff. Last week she had come to Casa Lamb to meet Jeremy and his two friends who were visiting, and she gave “a prophetic word” over each one of us. Wow. It was as if she were looking into our souls! She had never met any of us. She had not been “briefed” ahead of time. When Amanda asked if she would do a skype conversation with her son, Sister Lupita said, “That isn’t necessary. God can give a word for him without seeing him.” And she proceeded to talk about Amanda’s son as if she had known him from childhood! Then as Amanda sat there astounded, Lupita just smiled calmly and said, “See, God knows everybody and everything.”

At the safehouse, there is a girl who just turned twelve. She has only been with us for a few weeks, and every time someone has started a prayer time, she has begun to laugh and laugh uncontrollably. One day she said, “I don’t want to laugh, but the devil is making me.” And laughed some more. Today we had some praise and worship time, and then Sister Lupita walked directly to this girl, laid hands on her and began to speak into her ear. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but there was no laughing. The girl began to weep – and weep and weep and weep. And she began to talk to Jesus, out loud, asking forgiveness, thanking Him for loving her, and I don’t know what else because I was playing the guitar and crying, too, and that was about all the multitasking I could do under these circumstances!

After Sister Lupita prayed over the girls and the staff, she came over and prophesied over me, too. I tried to catch every word; one does not want to miss anything God is saying! As with the other prophecies, the words were ones of encouragement, love, and hope. They were words of assurance that the Lord was with me, and that He would bring to fulfillment all that was in my heart from Him to do. So beautiful. I’ve been doing other things since then, but my inner thoughts have stayed right there in that moment, soaking in the Truth, holding onto His loving words.

Sister Lupita reminded us, and I want to remind you, that God sees us, knows us, loves us. There is nothing that escapes His attention, and there is nothing that He cannot do. We are never outside the reach of His love. He makes all things new. He turns our mourning into dancing, and He also turns our careless laughter into tears of cleansing and renewal. In Jesus we are resurrected into holiness and joy. May we all be prophetic ministers wherever we are, revealing the Truth of Jesus Christ with our words and our lives so that His hope prevails.

Another "God Dream"

This morning (Sat.) at 6:30am I was leading praise and worship for a devotional in a place called CEMELUCAS, which is a Christian medical clinic run by Dr. Reyna Duron, a Honduran neurologist. Dr. Ken Holden introduced me to Dr. Reyna a few years ago, and little by little (because we are both very busy in our own spheres), we have become friends. Like the Apostle Paul, Dr. Reyna has worldly credentials of the highest order, and she could be working in a very nice hospital in the USA, making lots of dollars and living the good life. She has a passion, though, which comes straight from the heart of Jesus: making quality medical care available to the poor of Honduras. She sees some of “God’s Littlest Lambs” on a regular basis, free of charge. She says we are “on scholarship.” (smile) As my engineer friend, Elsa, said to me once when I told her that I wished we could pay for all the help she gave us: “You could never afford me anyway.” (another smile) It’s true. We can’t afford the services of Dr. Reyna or Eng. Elsa, but they have the heart of Jesus and help us anyway.

Dr. Reyna has a “God dream”: she wants to build a Christian hospital for the Honduran poor. She has her eyes on a piece of property within stone-throwing distance of the big, chaotic hospital where doctors and nurses are trained (on poor people). Dr. Reyna is a single woman, but she is birthing a huge baby: building a hospital is a tremendous challenge! Now that the baby has been conceived, though, it is beginning to develop and take on a life of its own, so there is no turning back. When Reyna sent me an email describing her vision and inviting me to participate in the special devotionals this month at her clinic to pray, I sensed the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon this dream. During my twenty years here, I have seen plenty of physical suffering. I have walked the halls and spent time in the wards of the public hospital, and I have gone to the funerals of men, women and children whose lives were shortened because of poor medical care. Reyna and I have assisted with countless medical brigades, placing medicines and vitamins in the hands of people who have literally no money to buy them, and even more importantly, sharing with them God’s love. Being treated with dignity and respect is perhaps the most important characteristic of Christian medical care. “The least of these” are exactly that in the eyes of many medical professionals, as evidenced by the comment of the specialist attending our precious Elias H last month: “Oh great! Another Social Services dummy!” Five minutes later he had changed all of Elias’ epilepsy medications, and we had to go to Dr. Reyna to get it straightened out.

Will you join me in praying for Dr. Reyna’s dream? In my reading on the history of Christian mission, I have encountered many similar projects. Apparently God likes building hospitals for poor people! Healing is one of His favorite activities, and with Reyna in charge, patients will be healed in body, mind, soul and spirit, in Jesus’ Name. Beautiful. Selah.

Dreaming With the Hernandez Family

Some of you might remember that day (September 29, 2004) when the five Hernandez children (Reina, Jorge, Julio, Wendy, Jimmy) were brought to us from their village by Social Services. Their first housemothers were Katie, Annabel, and Jenny. They were ours before we started the children’s home. They are still ours, seven years later, except that now we have a few more of the Hernandez clan: Sallie, Tatiana, and Genesis. And years earlier I had already brought home their cousins Mari and Noe. Mari, Noe and Wendy have the same mother, Rita, and the rest of the children belong to Mari’s mother’s sister, Margarita. Margarita and Rita have 15 siblings themselves! Are you confused yet? When we have visiting day, the Hernandez family takes up about 20% of the space, and it is obvious that they love being together.

The original five children had been left in the care of family members while Margarita came to Tegucigalpa to work to support them. She is a sweet, hardworking mom and loves her children. She didn’t know they were being abused, and is one parent who is thankful for the support we have given her family. She spends as much time with the children as she possibly can.

Because of health issues, Jorge (now 17) went to live with his mom a couple of years ago. He needed to be near the hospital, and his mom was eager to help. This year Reina turned 18, and she elected to live with her mom as well. It’s possible that Julio will join them this year. He’s 14 and in middle school, which is also in Tegucigalpa, and since his mother is enthusiastic about getting her children back together, we are hoping that the children’s court will give permission for him to join Reina and Jorge. LAMB will continue to help with education expenses.

Reina is spending a couple of days with my family. I asked her to help us get our house resettled after the Big Roof Project. Naturally I asked her how everything is going. She is in high school (a weekend distance program), and she was taking care of a baby, but apparently that job dried up. She also had a boyfriend, but has decided to cut that off (yeah!). She began to talk about the future in hopeful, cheerful language:

“My mom is going to help me get a job as a waitress while I finish school. Our dream is for Jorge to work and me, too, and my mom, too, and then we’re going to buy a house.”

Even with three salaries, given the pay scales in Honduras, buying any kind of house at all is a truly lofty dream. I wasn’t really thinking about that part, though. I was considering how improbable it was a few years ago that Jorge and Reina would be so far along in their studies, that they would be living harmoniously with their mom, making plans together as a family. Until her children were taken in by “God’s Littlest Lambs,” Margarita moved from job to job, and her children were shuffled among family members. However, Margarita has had the same job now for several years, and is dreaming big dreams with her kids.

If you were to ask any of the older Hernandez family members what has made the difference for them, I feel certain they would say, “our faith in Jesus.” The children have become baptized, committed Christians, and last year Margarita joined them in God’s Family. The love of Jesus Christ has brought peace and hope to the Hernandez Family. They are leaving the past behind, and they are dreaming of a future in which they are together under one roof.

God’s redemptive work is always beautiful, especially when it is as simple as bringing a family together again after enduring desperate poverty, abuse and separation. When I heard Reina’s dream, I decided to make it my dream for the Hernandez Family, too: “Lord, You can do anything, and because of that, we can dream big dreams. I pray that You would provide a home for the Hernandez Family, a home with a big dining room table so that they can break bread together in Your Name, laughing and enjoying just being together. Thank you for redeeming the years of pain and separation. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”