The Dominican Republic Report

Last week I had a special opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic with Score International on a short term mission trip. The trip was designed around the Dominican's love for baseball. You need not travel far within a community to see either the face of a Dominican player like Albert Pujols on a poster or to see a group of kids playing a pick up game (sometimes using makeshift equipment). The trip also offered opportunities for visiting with local orphans and some site seeing. Conducting ministry can be spiritually draining so the trip also involved morning devotions and evening worship services. Here is my experience.

Pre-Trip: Some wonderful friends who love Christ made this trip possible. Many people contributed financially to this trip and I am not aware of all of them. Therefore, I just want to say thank you and I know God will bless you for your part in the events of last week. Many students and Sunday School members helped gather flip-flops and toothpaste for the orphans. You will have rewards in heaven for your true Christianity.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008:

I left home at 2:30 in the morning for a 6 AM flight to Miami, Florida. While at the gate in Raleigh International I noticed a group of men wearing baseball caps and shirts. As we were about to board I did not get an opportunity to visit with them or to ask where they were headed. I had a good idea so I waited until we landed in Miami.

In Miami I ran into one the men and asked if they were headed to the Dominican. Ed Naylor told me they were in fact headed to the Dominican and introduced me to their group leader, Kenny Dickerson. I recognized Kenny as an umpire we had last year at a game in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. We had spoken about this very trip and it was real neat to meet up with him. I was traveling alone so they asked me to tag along with their group. God is great, especially since I was nervous about meeting people. These guys would keep an eye on me the whole trip. They are a bunch of awesome men who love Christ. What impressed me most about the group was the fact that it included two teenage boys, John and Zac. I pray these young men never lose their love for Christ and people.

Fast forward about four hours and we are in the Dominican arriving at our hotel. When we arrived we discovered to the Tony (a member of the Rocky Mount guys) did not have a room for whatever reason. Since I had been traveling alone, I was supposed to be accompanied by Michael Shelton (Brazil messed up his passport) who did not get to come, Tony became my roommate. He is an awesome man with a very large heart for Christ, his family, and kids. So off we go to get settled in. We had to learn how to work the lights in the room (they kept shutting off after a minute), unpack, and get ready for dinner.

After dinner, we had an awesome worship service, and then were divided into our teams. Before we were placed in our teams we were visited by the Minster of Sports for the Dominican Republic. He thanked us for bringing the news of Jesus Christ to his country and baseball to the kids. When he finished speaking; we were divided up and I was placed in "Group 4-Infield" under the leadership of Aaron Ledesma. Aaron is a former major league player and current coach in the Yankees organization. He is also a man very conscience of God's power in a person's life. This was evident from our conversation in the airport but also in the way he would lead in prayer beginning that night.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008.

Breakfast was served at 6AM and the morning devotion was given at 7AM. By 8AM we were on busses headed to our different locations. My group was off to a neighborhood in Santo Domingo. I soon discovered that each day we would share testimonies to help us get to know one another. Through this I was able to discover many men and coaches who love Jesus, love baseball, and have every day struggles like all people. The reason I say this is because many were team owners, college coaches, and major league players. These are the men who have "arrived" from a human perspective and I guess I was a little star struck. However, these men were so humble and honest about their walks with God and the pressures of being in the "upper levels." They shared how they cope by having their own email circles and team Bible studies.

An hour later, we were arrived to a baseball field that was a glorified sandlot field. On the field waiting for us was the Minister of Sports and about 500 kids, coaches, and parents. We conducted clinics for the outfield, infield, pitchers, catchers, and hitters. They kids were divided into these five groups and rotated every 20-30 minutes. We even had an umpire clinic with us that day for the coaches and would be adult umpires. Following the clinics all these people piled into one set of stands, and the earth in front of the stands, to hear a local missionary preach a gospel message. I did not understand all that he said but I looked into these kids faces and I saw God working. I cannot explain it but I saw God at work. In the end about 200 came forward to receive a decision paper and to make a public profession of Christ. The day could have ended there but it is not over.

We returned in time for lunch and then at 2PM I went to Ninos de Cristos, an orphanage in La Romana. Here we were able to give to these children the shoes collected and the other gifts we brought. We spent two hours playing and spending time with kids ranging from 16-years old to infants. At 18 the girls and boys are forced to leave the orphanage and begin a life. Until recently this has been very hard since most lack a good education. Thanks to the Pujols Family Foundation these children have an education space and better materials to begin their adult life better prepared. When it came time to leave I am not sure who wanted us to stay more, the kids or us.

The evening brought another wonderful service and we left exhausted but pumped for the next day.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Another round of early morning breakfast and devotions, and then it was off to San Cristobal (2 hours away). It was drizzling so we did not know if we would get to conduct a clinic that day. However, when you drive that far the weather can change. We had a great set of clinics for about 200 kids. Another missionary spoke and we had close to 60 kids come forward to make a public profession for Christ.

Since we traveled so far we missed lunch and the opportunity to go sight seeing that day. I was really hungry that night and made a poor choice on food selection. I did not know it right away.

Friday, November 21, 2008

I lay in bed, when I could, suffering from food poisoning. The sickness subsided long enough to get help after the morning devotion (which I got to hear-while seeing one of the doctors on the trip) and to make the evening service feeling weak and tired. That night we heard the testimony of Tony Fernandez, Dominican Short Stop, who played 18 years in the majors. What a powerful testimony.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Still not eating but feeling better. We went to our final devotions, and then headed to San Pedro de Marcois for a rally. There were about 8,000 people there. When all was said and done, every little league team received new equipment, all received the message of Christ, and about 1,000 made public professions for Christ.

All that was left to do now was go back to the hotel, grab my bags, and head to the airport.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

2:00 AM –I arrived home.

The Bible’s Introduction: Genesis 1:1-2

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the waters.

This simple introduction by God through Moses gives us some deep truths in foreshadowing. This statement is simple in that allows us to see the introduction to the story between God and man. It is meant not to tell us how God came to exist or to explain to us the details of creation but to summarize that which would be filled in throughout chapter 1 and chapter 2 of Genesis.

In the beginning…

    This is the start of all things. Prior to this introduction nothing of our material world existed. This is to include the vastness of space that houses our world. All things that we see have an originating point. This is the very reason for the scientist inability to calculate the age of space without using infinite math. They can only go so far back before they get the old "E" on the calculator. They admit that through the use of real math they reach a point of singularity when using the expansion rate of the universe that would determine the universe to be far younger (billions of years younger) than they claim. So as the universe has a point of singularity so does all life on this planet. A human comes from two cells, a plant from one seed, and so forth and so on; one can trace all life to a single moment.

    Furthermore, this is the start of all we need to know to make it through our lives. In this one moment of time God set into motion all the laws of the universe that establishes order and reason to our lives. He established the laws of nuclear fusion to allow us to have heat and light. He established the law of gravity so that we might adhere to the planet that allows for life. He established through these the orbital paths of our galaxy, our planet, and our moon to allow life to exist on the celestial rock we call earth.

    This begging covers a space of time, about seven days to be exact. It also states that this time period was in one instance as well. In the instant that God brought the material into existence the beginning was established. Then God took a few days and shaped that material into the things we see and take for granted one a regular basis.

In the beginning God….

    God was before the beginning. In fact without God there would be no beginning. Therefore since God existed before the beginning and is the cause for the beginning then we must conclude that God exists outside the beginning and outside of time as we know time. This is the primary reason that God calls Himself as the "I AM". It speaks of His eternal state of being present at any moment in time. This is why the original language did not express the elementary statement of faith as "God was in the beginning." This would tie God to time and would compromise the fundamental truth of God's immutability (unchanging nature).

    In the beginning God is also the primary statement of faith. The Bible authors never try to explain where God came from or how He came to be the creator of all that we know. They simply state that God is and leave you. It amazes me that we struggle over this concept since almost all stories have this aspect contained within their pages. There seems to always be a character that we have no background details to help us understand them. We are simply to accept that they are and move on to those details that will be revealed latter. Is it any wonder then that Paul, would write nearly 4,500 years latter that those who wish to please God must believe that He is.

….God….

    So who is this God that we are to accept at face value? The original language first reveals God as the Elohym. It is a Hebrew word meaning a plural intensive body of rulers that are singular in nature and purpose. If the meaning had stopped at a plural body of rulers then a proper translation would have been gods rather than God. However, since the singular nature is also expressed to lends to us the understanding that these members of the "godhead" (as other writers would express this unique union in latter passages of scripture) are of one kind and cannot be distinguished apart. This is not to say that they do not have unique characteristics and roles but in the purest of essence they are one. The same is seen in all of nature (because that which is created reflects that which created it). There are many humans and each of unique, just like everyone else, but in the end we are human and can by and large receive body parts one from another. This is due to the fact we are of one kind, the human race. Therefore, to this extent the godhead is a separate from humans as humans are separate from dogs. However, there is more to this expression and that is the singular of purpose. Here is where humans fail to be one and this is why we say there is perfect harmony in the godhead.

    The loss of understanding by early man after the flood of all the details contained within the wording of Elohym (remember this is a revelation from God to Moses) would account for the numerous gods of mythology. However, it was never meant to be twisted in such a manner but to instruct us toward a understanding of the trinity and thus the acceptance of Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ when the time was appointed for His first advent on earth. Furthermore, it makes us open to the work of the Spirit of God in our lives. Therefore, to the Christian the understanding of the godhead being the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit finds its seeds of understanding in Elohym.

    Augustine once wrote:

It is not easy to find a name that will suitably express so great excellence, unless it is better to speak in this way: The Trinity, one God, of whom are all things, through whom are all things, in whom are all things.(1) Thus the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and each of these by Himself, is God, and at the same time they are all one God; and each of them by Himself is a complete substance, and yet they are all one substance. The Father is not the Son nor the Holy Spirit; the Son is not the Father nor the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son: but the Father is only Father, the Son is only Son, and the Holy Spirit is only Holy Spirit. To all three belong the same eternity, the same unchangeableness, the same majesty, the same power. In the Father is unity, in the Son equality, in the Holy Spirit the harmony of unity and equality; and these three attributes are all one because of the Father, all equal because of the Son, and all harmonious because of the Holy Spirit.

In the beginning God created…

    So here comes the simple statement that the all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscience), ever-present (omnipresent) godhead created this world. For this reason when the scripture gives credit to the Father, the statement is true. When the scriptures give Jesus the credit for creation the scriptures are true, and equally true of the Holy Spirit. For all members of the godhead had their part in the act of calling into existence this masterpiece we call the universe.

In the beginning God created the heavens….

    Heavens in a plural sense; did you catch that in the verse? I know we understand all that that implies since we have Paul's account of the man being caught up into the third heaven, the abode of God. Did Moses, understand this truth? He must have because the original word for heavens gives a three-level meaning. It speaks of the atmosphere, that beyond the atmosphere where stars exist (space), and the abode of God.

…and the earth.

Well there is not a lot to be said here. We know where we live. But as God tells of the original state of the earth I believe you will find a planet vastly different than the current world in which we live today. I am not speaking about the absence of technology and buildings but of the very atmosphere and overall landscape.

So all this came to me yesterday morning drinking coffee and eating breakfast. I began reading Genesis and I could not get past verse 1. I hope you will begin reading this book that sets the stage for the entire Bible. I also hope God allows you to move through it faster than I am being allowed to move. Now that I have blogged perhaps God will allow me to move to verse two. One parting question before I go? Do you think Moses was told creation or did he have a vision of creation? I would love to hear your responses.

 

Not so good a friend….

So the title of the blog page is my thoughts based upon my observations. So here is another thought lesson from observing my dog Blondie.

Recently another dog moved in next door to us. She brought with her a family of course but I am focusing this lesson on the behavior of the dogs. She moves in next door and turn what was a minor annoyance to me and a medium annoyance to Angela into a nightmare. Blondie is what we call a digger. Until now she has only dug small holes to burry things like her tennis ball, chew toys, bones, and a flower pot. Now with another digger next door, she and her friend are digging her out of the yard. The other dog is much larger than Blondie so the smaller dog goes under. This has caused Blondie to be chained, locked in the garage, and tonight shocked. Yes shocked, I am purchasing an electric fence and installing it to stop this undesired behavior.

So those are the facts. Here is the observations:

#1—The other dog is not a good friend

#2—Blondie is going with her nature

#3—Trouble is usually created or enhanced with help

#4—People are like dogs

In the Bible there is a story where one of David's sons commits an immoral act against his half-sister Tamar. Amnon had a sinful desire in his heart to be immoral with Tamar but this was enhanced into rape when his "friend" helped him plan the event.

Our moral: Be careful who pick as your friends. If your friend does not enhance you towards good then they are not really a good friend. People like dogs will act upon our darkest natures, so pick friends who counter that nature.