Humility

Humility, the elusive virtue and yet the one that determines your standing with God. I wanted to share with whoever a story of humility not one from a grocery store book of inspirations but one that has in so many ways shown me Jesus and will forever bare a scar on my heart.

This past Saturday Katy and I took the day and spent it with our new Philippino friends and partners here in ministry. We made our way to Payates where Pastor Julius has been faithfully serving for some time. Payates is metro Manila’s garbage dump site. The sites and smells of which can make even the strongest stomach quiver with nauseau. And yet if one is seeking the manifest presence of Jesus it is to be found in a place such as this.
Around 11ish we made our way to one of the many preschools in Payates that Pastor Julius’ church sponsors as they provide food for the children in the community. This act of compassion and kindness takes place 4 days a week. The occasion is beautiful as one would expect. Not only to see the people of God, who themselves have little to nothing giving so generously but to be in the company of smiling little faces as they sing songs of Jesus and listen to one another recite passages of scripture that the older kids have memorized. We spent a few minutes there when Pastor Julius turned to me and asked if I would like to see there communal pharmacy. The communal pharmacy is an effort to provide people in the neighborhood with much needed medications that they cannot afford from a local pharmacy. The pharmacy is a 3 shelved cabinet filled with antibiotics, acetaminophen and various cold medicines in the home of one of the members of Pastor Julius’ church. As we were making our way to the pharmacy we were skipping and hopping over large patches of mud and water because of the foul weather that came thru recently. Pastor Julius sprung here and there like a pro while I clumsily followed behind him. I followed him that is until I sunk my right foot into 3 inches of mud. My shoes and pants were caked in mud such that all could be seen was the form of a shoe under all the grime. Embarrassed, I tried to hide my new found fashion sense until Pastor Julius noticed and exclaimed how filthy my shoe was…not to be insulting or embarrassing but to say, “we need to take care of this right now.” We walked over to a woman’s house where Pastor Julius entered and stepped forward with a pitcher of water and a scrubbing sponge. I reached forward to take them from his hand so as to begin cleaning my shoe when he knelt in front of me and gently guided my foot onto a tree stump. My mind was racing…”What’s happening? He is not going to clean my shoe! He’s the pastor here, no no, I can take care of this.” He dipped the sponge into the water and began scrubbing the mud off my filthy shoe. This was no formal, hygienic foot washing service in a church with all the comforts, this was real….outside, hot, muddy, flies perching on your face and mosquitoes enjoying another meal at your expense with mud and filth lathered on my shoe, my pants and leg, and there knelt before me was a man more like Jesus than I have ever known cleaning and scrubbing until it was all gone. I fought back tears through the whole experience. Even now as I recount the details I am overwhelmed. Efforts to share what I am feeling and thinking do not do it justice and to be quite honest the whole experience has still not completely sunk in….and perhaps that is God’s gift to me so that I don’t arrive at a tidy conclusion but rather spend these next few months or better yet the lifetime that remains for me reflecting on and emulating the choice Pastor Julius made to serve and love me.

Hurt....

In the Philippines today there are 400,000 women trapped in the hurting and painful world of prostitution. If that was not painful enough, there are 70,000 children forced into prostitution in this country.

Listen, praying that "Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is not a token phrase that one mindlessly recites at a church service....but it is passionate cry for "such as these". Let's allow the marginalized, hurting and the poor inform more and more our life of prayer and action.

Monkeys and Blessings....

Well, it's been over a week now in the Philippines. The experience thus far has been fantastic. I am sure as you read over the blogs of those with me you can keep up with things better than I can relay them. I will throw in that yesterday at the beach, our food was heisted by a bunch of beach dwelling monkeys. :O Seriously, the little beach we were at had monkeys running around on the cabanas and buildings. The whole ordeal was funny....like in a bad comedy.

I wanted to put to type here one of the many things I am learning. That is the whole issue of blessing. We have all kinds of phrases for blessing in English. We bless someone when they sneeze, we announce God Bless You during the fun-handshaking time during church or we announce God bless America. In the short time of reflecting on "blessing" I realize we mean it as a way of imparting goodwill and encouragement or protection.

In the Philippines the idea of blessing is so much deeper. It is not a perfunctory phrase, it is a way of living. Never have I been among a people that are themselves more a blessing than Philipinos. Isn't that a phrase we use, "being a blessing"? To be a blessing means to care deeply for a person, to give of yourself to a person, to want and think the best of that person and to see that that person is well and safe. Sounds so much like Jesus doesn't it?

This idea of blessing as I am reflecting on it has been true thematically of Philippinos. They are a beautiful people, one whom I am hoping to emulate as I live among them.

Part of the other day was spent at the feet of Jesus...and felt it important to share...with whoever chooses to read.....

On this occasion, I was praying for the city of Tampa and asking the Lord about His intentions and purpose for the city. In that moment, lying on the prayer room floor and staring at the ceiling I felt as if a word was whispered in my heart, "REFUGE". That Tampa was meant to be a city of refuge. Excited about the possibilities, I began searching Scripture to see what exactly was meant by "REFUGE" aside from the obvious. The discovery and wealth of meaning concerning REFUGE was awesome and in fact, the Lord had plans long ago for "cities of refuge". In Number 35 the Lord instructed Moses to allocate towns and cities to the Levites (the priestly order) and in fact 6 of those cities given to the tribe of Levi were meant to be "cities of refuge", now I want to be faithful to the context here...the cities were meant to be places of refuge for those that "accidentally killed another"...sounds odd. But indeed God has particualr cities in mind as "cities of refuge". I am convinced as I have spent more time in prayer and reflection that Tampa and the Bay area is such a city. The Bay area has been a place of refuge for those a part of the Cuban diaspora, the city is a refuge for retirees and those seeking rest and recreation, it has been a refuge historically for native americans and the exploring spaniards.

With that said, i feel like the Lord is using the Underground - in particular our homes to be places of refuge for those that feel far from God, those alienated by the Church and for those on the fringe...homeless and poor.

Let us fulfill what the Lord may have intended long ago when he thought of Tampa.....a a city of REFUGE.

Jason's Musings

In a few months I will be hitting keys on a computer in the heart of Manilla. What seems like a dream now....sitting at the feet of God's men and women in Manilla, looking for the treasure that is the Kingdom among the poor and praying the heart of the Father for our community, the Underground, the poor and the city of Tampa will soon be reality. The hope with this blog and my humble effort to put my thoughts and heart into words here is to share the things that Jesus is teaching me and our community and receiving His gift of another dream that will soon be reality....returning to Tampa with eyes that see our city more clearly and live as we have been called with our beloved family, The Underground.