Recently, I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Colombia to teach English to the people of Bogota. The learning tool we used is called FriendSpeak. FriendSpeak uses the Bible, and specifically the book of Luke as a means of teaching and practicing English while at the same time bringing people closer to God and his church.
I was surprised how popular English lessons were in a country whose native language isn’t English at all. It turns out that English is taught in the schools a lot. It also surprised me how Bogota was so similar to the United States. It really shows you what we are like when you don’t speak the language in a country that you are so similar to. There were very few differences. However, one difference that I saw is their view on religion. It was not uncommon to meet with students that would say how much they disliked religion. When they described how they viewed religion they would describe keeping the legal side of church with its precepts and practices. I found people searching and yearning for a relationship with God. The Colombian people want to talk about God and follow him, but find it difficult given their religious culture.
Continue reading »
When we get baptized we are always asked the same question, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is your lord?” It’s a good question to ask seeing as how we are called “Christians” and the entire basis of our beliefs are based on the fact that Jesus is the word and the word was with God and the word was god. However, we sometimes forget about the human side of Jesus.
This isn’t always easy though. Think about it. What do we really mean when we say “he is only human”? We are saying that we, as humans, are imperfect. We make mistakes, we aren’t perfect, and Jesus is perfect, right? Jesus didn’t make mistakes, he didn’t have a plan that didn’t happen the way he wanted, and he didn’t learn anything because he knew everything, but that would mean that he isn’t human. When God sent his son the people were awaiting a non-human king, but he sent a baby in the most human form that he possibly could have. The people wanted to have God lead them into victory and place the Jews above all other people, but God wanted to provide more than just a sacrifice. He wanted us to have an example. God came to the earth to not only tell us how to live, but also to show us.
Continue reading »
Throughout the Bible there have been many occasions where God spoke to someone and they immediately questioned why he chose them, and every time we read these passages we think about what we would do if God spoke to us like that. Like many others I thought that if God spoke to me I would just do what he said instead of argue with him. That was easy to say because I didn’t think that God would actually speak to me. I didn’t realize that he was always speaking to me. I just wasn’t listening to what he was saying, or doing it.
Continue reading »
A lo largo de la Biblia ha habido muchas ocasiones en que Dios habló con alguien y de inmediato algunos cuestionaron por qué los escogió, y cada vez que nosotros leemos estos pasajes pensamos acerca de lo que haríamos si Dios nos hablara de esta forma. Como muchos otros, yo pensaría que si Dios me hablara yo podría hacer lo que él me haya dicho en lugar de discutir con él. Eso es muy fácil de decir, porque yo no creo que Dios realmente me hablaría. No me di cuenta de que siempre estaba hablando a mí. Yo no estaba escuchando lo que decía, o haciéndolo.
Continue reading »
