Lynn and Donna woke to a different challenge for breakfast, baledas. Mike was there to help supervise the preparations of this special breakfast. Baledas are a soft shell warmed over the stove. You add what you want on your shell. Your choices are refried beans, eggs scrambled, bacon and crema. You make it according to your taste buds. So actually all Lynn and Donna had to do was cook up their usual dishes and add the refried beans and soft shell. It was a huge success. This was and has become a very special breakfast on Sunday mornings in Honduras.
After our delicious breakfast off we headed to El Limonal for our worship service with these sweet people. We arrived to a couple of the young men practicing their special for the morning. People started coming in from all different paths of this community. As the church started filling up with children and numerous adults we started singing some favorite hymns, "How Great Thou Art" to name one. After a few minutes of singing Lynn was asked to come forward to read out Psalm 133: with our morning scripture reading. After the completion of the reading of God's Word Pastor Santos Adrian got up and greeted everyone and thank the North Americans for coming to worship today and for the building of Mercedes' home. At this time they were asking for specials so Longview Baptist Church choir got up to sing their "Victory in Jesus" in English and Spanish. Joey stayed up to share his testimony about being adopted by a very special family after loosing his mother at the age of six. But before his mother's passing she would always hold Joey in her lap each evening and sing "Amazing Grace". So when he was adopted this family's favorite hymn was also "Amazing Grace" as well. Joey sang "Amazing Grace" for the church congregation. What an amazing story and what an amazing voice of "Amazing Grace" Thank you Joey for such an inspiring story.
Pastor Randy came forward to bring the Word of God. At the age of 15 Randy went to church one Wednesday evening as usual but this particular evening the pastor met him and asked him to come into his office. The pastor shared with Randy his best friend had just gotten killed in an automobile accident. Pastor Randy shared how at that moment he could not show any emotions and did not understand why this had happened. There was lots of tears and sorrows for many months ahead. It was a journey for Pastor Randy called a Crisis of Faith. Where was God in all of this? There are times in our life where we get stuck without hope and faith. There are times when things we believe will be tested and be refrained. It can only happen through a season of despair. Like the children of Israel being delivered out of slavery by God through the Red Sea out of Exodus 14:10-14. It is like going through a rock and hard place in our lives. Moses was able to lift up his cane into the air as God opened up the Red Sea for the children of God to escape and be saved. Do you know why this happened? They were headed to the Promise Land. They took a different route and they were very far off their course of travel. It made no sense that they went this way. But if they would have went straight they would have went into battle with the Philistines. It was a longer journey and they ended up at the Red Sea. Why did God allow this to happen? It was further protections from the Egyptians people. God showed Pharaoh His mighty power. It is important to know why God protected the His children. Jesus came through the Hebrew lineage. Jesus freed us from our sin and death. This is what God wanted us to understand. God wanted them to think of Him instead of the Egyptians. They were in desperate circumstances and without God they would not make it. They had to depend solely on God and not themselves. Like the children of Israel we need to stop, be still and listen to God and know He is present with us at all times. In verse 13 it says do not be afraid. So when we get ourselves between a rock and a hard place remember to be still, recognize God will lead your way, God will not take away the difficult situation but God will see us through it. God's plan is to bring salvation to this world through His Son.
The Red Sea along with the flood of Noah is all symbols of water and it source of either life or death. God's spirit hovered over the Red Sea to protect the children of Israel. The story of Moses how the Nile River saved his life but many Hebrew babies lives were taken by the water of the Nile River. Like the Red Sea something needed to die in them so they could pass through the Red Sea. They had to believe God could do this for them. His mighty power divided the Red Sea to save the children of Israel. Just like them we have to die to self and be raised into a new life. God had released them from the bondage of slavery. God was with them even when they were in circumstances they suggested otherwise. God's promise to us is during difficult times they will happen but He will walk us through them. We need to stay focused on Him and He will get us through the difficult times. Absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God. Only God can take away our pain.
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