Strong desires

We are starting a teacher training on Monday.

Here in Ecuador, due to recent changes, there is a two weeks vacation from the schools at the beginning of February.

So, at FACE (Fundación Adelanto Comunitario Ecuatoriano, local partner to Finnish Free Evangelical Church for which I work) we're trying to make the best of the time and use it for teacher trainings.

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. 

C. S. Lewis

Education department agreed for us to do an inclusive teaching training for teachers from 5th till 10th year of education (4th till 9th grade).

And we have a whole month to work with Special Education teachers.

These teachers aren't really Special Education teachers, some of them aren't even teachers but just High School graduates.

“Faith’s most severe tests come not when we see nothing, but when we see a stunning array of evidence that seems to prove our faith vain.” 

Elisabeth Elliot

They all have severe reading comprehension problems and difficulties in logical thinking.

So, how come they are working in Special Education?

Because before 2011, when we started to work with Napo Province's Bilingual Intercultural Education Department, there did not exist Special Education in the bilingual (indigenous) teaching system.

The students with special needs stayed at their homes, hidden, ashamed, afraid, and abandoned.

Life provides losses and heartbreak.  But the greatest tragedy is to have the experience and miss the meaning.  I am determined not to miss that meaning.

Robin Roberts

I have so many heartbreaking stories of children and youth crawling on the floor, eating like animals, hidden in closets, bind with ropes, beaten, abused, and unable to ask for help or mercy.

In Amazonic Kichwa culture disabled people are supay wawa, demon children, born from a woman and a demon, sent to torture and damage the people around them.

But I have witnesses, O Israel, says the Lord!  You are my witnesses and my servants, chosen to know and to believe me and to understand that I alone am God.  There is no other God; there never was and never will be.  I am the Lord, and there is no other Savior.

Isaiah 43:10-11
The Living Bible

Or they are ghosts, souls of tortured people, raised from the grave, who have killed the real baby in the womb.

Only way to dispose a child like this is burn them alive or bury them alive next to a river.

There are no Kichwa Special Educators, because no Kichwa would have wanted to study to teach a child with special needs.

One of the most powerful concepts, one which is a sure cure for lack of confidence, is the thought that God is with you and helping you.  This is one of the simplest teachings in religion, namely, that Almighty God will be your companion, will stand by you, help you, and see you through.  No other idea is so powerful in developing self-confidence as this simple belief when practiced.  To practice it simply affirm "God is with me; God is helping me; God is guiding me."  Spend several minutes each day visualizing his presence.  Then practice believing that affirmation.

Norman Vincent Peale

It has been a long and painful road, but people are changing, the attitudes are changing, and there is hope for these children.

There are over 40 Special Education teachers in our program in Napo province.

And we are working with over 400 children and youth with special needs.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.

James 1:22
The New International Version

The teachers might not have graduated from a University but they have learned that God loves ALL the children.

They have understood that God has a special love for those who no one else loves, those who are the smallest of the smallest, the most insignificant of all.

And they have brought children to the sun, children who were hidden in holes in the soil.

Christianity must mean everything to us before it can mean anything to others.

Donald Soper

They have taught their students to walk; they have been there to hear them talk, to see how they eat with a spoon for the first time in their lives.

They have been there when a youth who used to wet him and throw stones to other people, smiles at them and calls them by name, and gives them a hug.

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:  "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.  Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.  Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.  Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!  Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets."

Luke 6:20-23
The English Standard Version

Kichwa culture is communal.

Everything affects the community.

Everything revolves around the community.

Before the disabled people were seen as a threat to the community.

Now they are seen as a part of community.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Jim Elliot

And what is part of the community must be integrated, included in the life of community.

And those who are members of the community must be helped, their live must be made, sumak kawsay, good life.

When I go to a community where a baby was burned just four years ago and see the people taking care of their disabled community members.

How far away is heaven? It is not so far as some imagine. It wasn’t very far for Daniel. It was not so far off that Elijah’s prayer, and those of others could not be heard there. Men full of the Spirit can look right into heaven.

Dwight L. Moody

Worrying about their happiness, health and safety.

Looking together into solutions and ways to improve their lives.

It's not just the people with disability that have found a new life, it is the community.

But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.

Psalm 68:3
The New International Version

Together we have found God who healed the blind man and made the lame walk.

God who told us to love everyone and take care of the most insignificant person.

God who said that it is not the fault of the parents, nor the person who is disabled.

God who gave us life and freed us all to live it. 

Let my prayer come before thee

I have always found praying difficult.

And at the same time I need it, I want it, I even crave for it.

The feeling of finding the presence of God, of being there with Him, of baring myself to Him.

So, why is it so difficult?

Psalms 88:2 - “Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry.”

When I am praying I become the ADHD child from the jokes around the internet.

Dear God, I think I'm hungry, no I mean, Dear God, here I am before you, and I'm itching.

No, let's do it again.

Dear God, I come before you in silence, what is that noise?

NO!!!!

Nahum 1:7 - “The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him.”

Brother Lawrence says in the book The Practice of the Presence of God: Conversations and Letter of Brother Lawrence "That we should establish ourselves in a sense of GOD'S Presence, by continually conversing with Him".

When I first heard about the life as a prayer, I thought it was the most wonderful thing.

I started to pray that God would make my life a constant prayer to Him.

That in every moment I would be talking to Him.

No matter what I was doing, I would do it to Him, as a gift or a sacrifice.

“Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them” - Elisabeth Elliot

It has been a rough road sometimes, but at the same time it has been wonderful.

The possibility of conversing with God, no matter where you are, is amazing.

I once said to a catholic friend here that it doesn't matter where you are, you can always pray to God, even if you are in the bathroom.

At first she was quiet and I was afraid I had insulted her so much that she wouldn't talk to me anymore.

PSALM 23:6 “Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the LORD's house forever.”

Then she laughed a little, and said, that is such a protestant thing to say.

I think it is such a Christian thing to say.

But I know that there is more treasure to be found.

And I long to be even closer to God.

That is why this year I have been decided to try out Lectio Divina.

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
― Søren Kierkegaard

According to Wikipedia:

"In Christianity, Lectio Divina (Latin for divine reading) is a traditional Benedictine practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's Word It does not treat Scripture as texts to be studied, but as the Living Word.
Traditionally Lectio Divina has 4 separate steps: read, meditate, pray and contemplate. First a passage of Scripture is read, then its meaning is reflected upon. This is followed by prayer and contemplation on the Word of God.
The focus of Lectio Divina is not a theological analysis of biblical passages but viewing them with Christ as the key to their meaning. For example, given Jesus' statement in John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you" an analytical approach would focus on the reason for the statement during the Last Supper, the biblical context, etc. But in Lectio Divina rather than "dissecting peace", the practitioner "enters peace" and shares in the peace of Christ^. In Christian teachings, this form of meditative prayer leads to an increased knowledge of Christ.
The roots of Scriptural reflection and interpretation go back to Origen in the 3rd century, after whom St. Ambrose taught them to St. Augustine. The monastic practice of Lectio Divina was first established in the 6th century by Saint Benedict and was then formalized as a 4 step process by the Carthusian monk, Guigo II, in the 12th century. In the 20th century, the constitution Dei Verbum of Pope Paul VI recommended Lectio Divina for the general public. Pope Benedict XVI emphasized the importance of Lectio Divina in the 21st century."

“Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.”
― Mother Teresa

In Lectio Divina you read first a Bible verse.

Then you meditate on the meaning of the words you read.

After that you pray on what you just read.

And at last you contemplate on the verse and it's meaning.

This is my hear yearning, to understand the meaning of the word of God, learn it and hide it in my heart.

Maybe one day I will understand even a little bit of God also.

“Give me the Love that leads the way
The Faith that nothing can dismay
The Hope no disappointments tire
The Passion that'll burn like fire
Let me not sink to be a clod
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God”
― Amy Carmichael

Thought for today

O