One thing I’ve learned in my time in ministry (and especially missions) is that you have to be ready with an alternative plan.
Randy Smith, the president of YMI, is scheduled to go to Cuba this Friday to teach a class for the Seminary in Santiago. We’ve been diligently planning the trip for months, purchasing tickets, getting visas, preparing the class, and all the things that have to be done for a trip. But I got an email from Randy the other day.
He’s having health issues, and it looks like he might not be going on the trip after all. He still hasn’t been able to make a final decision, but we are waiting to see what happens. All of us are on hold. The professors in Cuba who invited him are on hold. He’s on hold. I’m on hold. The office staff at YMI are on hold. We’re all investigating “plan B.”
In Latin America, “plan B” isn’t very popular. When I teach it in my programming class, the students all nod their head in approval, but I doubt that they ever have a very defined Plan B.
But as I think about myself, I don’t really have a plan B either usually. The word plan usually means something that is thought out ahead of time. However, usually if something happens to my “plan A”, I’m forced to try to wing it. Sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes that’s a bad thing. It just depends.
Anyway, please be praying for Randy as he goes through these health issues. Pray for the project in Cuba and the guys there who are forced to react to this situation. I’m sure they’ll do well. They’ve been taught all about plan b in the classroom. And they all nodded in approval.
It’s the end of the year, so I’m going to be posting some summary posts for the next few days. If you’re new around here, hopefully these will give you some new things to read. Thanks for reading this year and coming along with us on this journey.
According to statistics from Google Analytics, here are the top ten most visited posts for 2008 here at ymimexico.org:
- Free Easter Powerpoint Game
- 101 Things about Mexico
- Five Places to Visit in Downtown Mexico City
- Five Places to Visit in Downtown Mexico City Part 2
- Saturday’s Talk
- 15 Must See Places in Mexico City
- 25 Great Youth Ministry Blogs
- The Bible Illuminated
- Mexico City Images
- Mexican Subcultures
I got this email on Friday from Krispy Kreme in Mexico. It really goes to prove the differences in how Americans think about time and how Mexicans think about time.
The purpose of the email was to promote their “new” Christmas doughnuts. However, they sent the email the day after Christmas, and these doughnut styles have been in the stores for weeks now.
Latin American cultures do not think about time like we think about time in the United States. They are not time oriented, nor do they plan very far in advance. I’m generalizing here, but I have observed that, in Mexico, people are much more important than events.
The person who sent this email was probably busy with Christmas parties with friends and didn’t get around to sending the Merry Christmas email until after Christmas.
Either that, or they are really early for next year.
This Christmas was a lot better than last Christmas. Last year, Nathan was so sick for Christmas that he couldn’t hardly open his presents. This year, however, we got to wake up and have some family time before the craziness of the day.
He got lots of cool toys, including a Leapster (a kids’ educational video game system), some moon sand, a Bullseye horse and from the movie Toy Story (and a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head set), the game “Ants in Your Pants,” and other things.
We traveled home specifically to spend Ben’s first Christmas with our family (even though my sister lives in Las Vegas…miss you Christy). Since he’s only 5 months old, his presents were basically rattles and some clothes. But he liked them, I think.
Overall, it was a good day, especially for the kids.
Here are a few video slideshows from the day:
Pictures from the camera:
Pictures from my iPhone:
You can also see our flickr set from Christmas 2008.
I love Christmas Eve. In fact, I think I enjoy Christmas Eve more than Christmas day. I spend a lot of time on Christmas Eve before the rush of family reflecting on the reason for Christmas.
Today, I got to thinking about the contrasts that existed on that first Christmas when Jesus was born. A few things stand out as powerful contrasts in the Christmas narrative.
- The purest of all was born in a dirty stable. Imagine how disgusting that stable was. The innkeeper had to be so busy with the travelers that he had little time to take care of the animals. If each family parked their donkey in there, there had to be a lot of animals in there. And if the animals had been walking along the dusty roads, imagine how dirty they had been. But in that filth, pure baby Jesus was born.
- The most powerful was made powerless. I can’t think of many things more helpless than a newborn baby. But God Almighty became the most powerless creature in the world.
- The one who owns everything now had nothing. According to the Biblical account, Mary and Joseph were a poor family. Newlyweds are almost always poor, but they had their baby with nothing.
- The one who sustains everything couldn’t even hold his head up. The hand of Jesus sustains everything, but a little baby is so helpless, powerless, and weak that he can’t even hold up his head. Babies don’t even control their own body, let alone the universe.
- The independent, self existing One now was dependent on others. The “I Am” who depends on nothing was now dependent on human hands to feed Him, change his diapers, and care for Him for everything.
- The Creator became creation. Jesus, who was there in the beginning and participated in creation, was now part of that creation.
- The light of the world came into the darkness. The world was a dark place. The people of Israel had gone a long time without hearing from God. And in walked the Light of the World.
- Deity became humanity. The one and only God who created and ruled everything became finite. Jesus put away equality with God and became like us, with all the problems that being human brings with it.
- The author and giver of life became vulnerable to death. And He was killed 33 years later. But, of course, God raised Him up and exalted Him higher than all others.
These things will take me more than a lifetime or more to comprehend, but they are all things that I’m thinking about this Christmas. I hope you have a great Christmas, and I pray that these contrasts can draw you closer to the person of Jesus.
I’m contemplating Philippians 2:5-9 this Christmas and the contrasts that it brings.
(Image by c.a. muller on flickr)
