Clay Pots ~ coffee

Some of you might know the amount of work that goes into a simple cup of coffee. Then again, maybe you don't... I didn't. Even after living in Tobo where they grew coffee, 'washed it', dried it, hulled it, and packaged it up (weeks of work), it didn't strike me as that big a deal until I went on a tour of the Azotea Coffee plantation outside of Antigua a few weeks ago. There, on sight, we were able to see the process from start to finish: from planting the seed, transplanting the seedling, harvesting the ripe crop, shelling the two halves, drying the beans, hulling the parchment off, roasting, shipping, grinding, to the finished product: a pleasing, sweet-smelling, delicious cup of black coffee. Seems like a whole lot of work and a whole lot of time for one simple product which we consume every day. On our tour, we were told that 1 coffee plant, which only produces one crop a year, produces only enough coffee for approximately 40 cups! Wow, how many plants worth have I drank this year already?

The preparation process for coffee is intense, requires just the right climate, and entails numerous steps before one can enjoy the final product. This encouraged me with the ministry I find myself in. Just like hurrying up the process or skipping a step in the production of coffee would produce a product not appropriate for consumption. In the same way, I need to be faithful to patiently accomplish the steps necessary to see the appropriate final product of ministry, which is changed lives. This includes learning the language, understanding the culture, compehending the needs, and knowing and loving the people. This all takes time, but it is time well spent when we become "the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing". (2 Cor. 2:15)

Pray for us as we prepare for the gardens this summer. Pray for us as we are being invited into people's homes. Pray that my Spanish will progress and that I will be faithful to practice it and use it. Pray that the aroma of Christ coming from us, like the aroma of coffee, would have an attractional characteristic.

Peace,
Jason

Clay Pots ~ Guatemala part 3

Well, it has been quite a week. Took that hike up the volcano, met that guy at the restaurant, got a list of 200 new verbs that I need to learn, am grasping a few new concepts in Spanish, watched from afar as you all went through a crazy snowstorm, put in over 8 hours a day of studying, took a 32 mile mountain bike ride through the rugged mountain terrain around Antigua, visited the capital city of Guatemala and spent time with Paco's brother, attended a new church plant endeavor out in a pueblo, watched the Packers WIN the Super Bowl, and now I am trying to process it all.

Some things that hit me this past week: As I looked down on a huge city thriving with life from an enormous volcano where it was like I felt the fiery hot breath of God, I was humbled with the thought that we are not quite as significant and important as we think we are. With one breath of his nostrils, God could rend the earth and consume an entire city of millions of people.

As I biked through some of these small towns and saw the poverty and rough existence, the dry barren gardens, the delapitated houses, I was reminded of my time in the tribe in PNG and I realized what an amazing act of love it was for God to come down and be born, live, and die as a human... most of the world does not live with white picket fences, sanitary clean roads, and glimmering grocery stores. God came and lived as a poor man among the poor, he got dirty with those who were dirty, and he bled with those who bleed.

As I walk the streets of Antigua, watch the drunk pee on the wall in front of me, answer "no" for the 30th time to the offer for 'weed', and see men and women chase after anything in this life which can give them a temporary 'fix' for the ache which they feel inside, my flesh initially is repulsed, but my spirit is filled with compassion and a prayer that everyone could find the relationship they crave in Jesus Christ.

And as I witnessed the desire to plant a church in a new pueblo, I was reminded that relationships founded on godly, sacrificial love are what build trust and draw people to Christ. It takes time (maybe years) to spread the kingdom in this way, but we are each called to influence our own little corner of the world and proclaim Jesus to those we meet. And as in any family, growth happens one birth at a time as God gives the miracle of life to what was once dead.

So, although God could have consumed us or could have said, "no, they are rebelious, they rejected me, why should I love them?" and then just left us to rot on this rough planet; instead, he took on flesh. He became poor, dirty, and bleeding, he was filled with compassion and prayed for the hopeless around him, and then he gave of himself in sacrificial godly love in order to innitiate a relationship with us. Now that is a story worth listening to!

See you soon,
Jason