Wednesday, December 5, 2007

ABOUT VISIONS, MINISTRIES, HOUSES, HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS!

Last March 2007 I was asked what I would prefer… the Heart or the Mind of God?

The connotations were Heart equal love, compassion, caring, giving, and the whole gamut of good intentions and deeds while Mind was equalized somewhat as detached analysis, programming, organizing, building, provision, and again the whole gamut of good intentions and deeds, but this time external, visible, tangible ones.

I said that I would prefer to have both, that everyone should prefer it that way. The Heart and the Mind of God at our level of servanthood and understanding that inevitably will raise our level of commitment and the purification of our flesh, mind and spirit.

This is the only way to really understand God´s plans and timetable for our lives so we can become a blessing for all people of all ages and circumstances all around and we do not get lost in actions without a purpose or consequences, no matter how great or significant in terms of scopes and resources they could be in fact or in imagination.

Habakkuk 2: 2-3 gives us all our assignment as prophets of the Lord God! “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail, though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay”

What it means is fundamentally the vision, that will take the form of ministries materializing it into houses (churches, orphanages, shelters, whatever) that is necessary to turn into homes for the needy (brethren, faithful, disciples, orphans, widows, whoever) within the parameters of God´s institution which is LOVE besides the human materialization of the vision, if we really want to become the prophets of God and be able to tell HIM “I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what YOU will speak to me and how I May reply when I am reproved” Habakkuk 2:1.

Visions must be congruent with the spiritual need of the societal environment where is to hold itself, steadfastly and true. The vision comes from God´s plan for that societal conglomerate and it is not what we want to do but what he wants us to do, what will become HIS VISION IN ACTION, not ours. Different groups require not different visions but specific and compatible approaches and actions.

If we do not pay careful attention to this, we, Christians, and all good faith people, can easily become the “useful fools” that will pick up the pieces of the corrupt, the abusers, opportunists and intermediaries, without being M.A.D.(Making A Difference) as I stated in a former article.

Visions require servants, servants become strong under the spiritual covering of the ministries. Visions then turn into projected houses that we need to turn into homes where God´s institution of LOVE becomes a tangible experience.

And this God´s institutional love is so different from the human ones. Just human actions only lead to entitlement, opportunism and ungratefulness. God´s led human actions become joy and laughter of the servants and the served ones. See them in the following mementos of a Christian routine living in a Christian home environment.

School vacation has arrived. Time to relax and enjoy
Our Miskito Indian heritage children also relax in the cozy environment of our homes
Our friends and volunteers come and pitch in
And the order of the day is to relax and enjoy and sure they know how to
Isn´t all this what Visions, Ministries, Houses, Homes and Institutions are all about?

2 comments:

Emilio Padilla Morales & Gladys de Padilla said...

De: Vicki Burlingame
Dearest Emilio and Gladys,
Thank you so much for keeping me informed about all of you in Nicaragua! I really enjoy getting the e-mails and especially the pictures! I miss all of you and look forward to visiting again this summer. I pray for you all every day. God bless.

Love and prayers,
Vicki and Scott Burlingame

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