I was really on a roll with this blogging thing this summer; then I returned to Cuba. When I returned to the USA I was overwhelmed with all I had experienced and seen. I felt that the timing was not right; nor did I have the words to express the mixture of emotions I was experiencing. I didn't want the story of my personal battles to take away from what God had done and is doing in that country. So, I decided to wait.
The next thing I know, school had started and I was knee-deep in a new schedule and new students. Once again, the Lord's timing was perfect and I can now write with a clearer lens.
I truly enjoyed Cuba 2012. Despite some stomach issues early in the week it was even more rewarding than the previous year. I loved my team! The Lord placed me with a group of wonderful people to travel with and to share with. It opened up friendships and fellowships that have now been carried back home. I feel more a part of my church now than ever before. The Lord has opened so many doors for my personal growth.
One of the highlights for me on this trip was being able to go into the community and reach out to men and women who had not yet devoted there life to Christ. The work of the house churches we teamed with is truly amazing. They are sowing seeds and winning disciples daily. The gospel is being proclaimed!
We were sent out in pair with local house church leaders to visit some of the homes they had been working with. It was humbling to see the effort and dedication of these brothers and sisters and how they had shared the gospel with there neighbors. We were blessed to be able to show and share Christ's message.
We were quick to point out that we had nothing new to add to the gospel. There was nothing that we could tell them that our Cuban brothers and sisters had not already shared. But we wanted to show them that we feel so strongly about the greatness of our God that we wanted all people to know Him and that is why we travel there. We were received warmly and our teams saw several people give their lives to Christ. In others, we helped to water the seed that had already been planted.
My first trip to Cuba I did not see the level of poverty that I was exposed to this time. In 2011, we entered the country on tourist visas. This time, we had religious visas and were able to venture into areas of the city that previously had been "off-limits". We saw homes with floors made of crushed rock, walls with gaping holes, doors that barely kept the chickens out and the barest of furniture or items of convenience. It was humbling in the truest sense.
In one home I ask the woman if she knew who Jesus was. She said that He was the the one that you prayed to to get things. I then ask her if she knew who Santa Claus was. She replied that she knew of him too from seeing movies and TV shows. We tried to show her that God is not Santa Claus; that God is not a magic lamp that you rub to get the desires of your heart. We told her that God is not a a genie who will give you everything you want...but he will give you everything you need.
As we moved from home to home a pattern was beginning to develop. It is a pattern that is not unlike how some here in the United States and around the world view God. It was an attitude that God has to prove Himself to be believed or trusted. "What have you done for me lately?"
As we entered the last home a young mother told us of how one of the walls of her home had collapsed onto her young son. He was taken to a hospital in Havana and was in the ICU for five days. While there, the child was under the care of a Christian doctor. At the same time, she was approached by witch doctors...yes, you read that right! Witch doctors!
The doctor told her that he could help her son, who had suffered serious head trauma. The witch doctors were competing for her allegiance saying that they had the means to cure her son through ritual. Eventually, the young mother chose to follow the advise of the doctor and the boy recovered. It was because of this that she decided to dedicate her life to Christ.
The story troubled me on a number of levels. I immediately recalled the story of Satan tempting Christ in the wilderness. "Thou shall not put your Lord God to the test." What would have happened if the young boy had not recovered? Would the mother have decided the witch doctors were valid and correct? Would she have rejected God and Christ?
Too often we bargain with God. If You do this...I will do that. I am know I am guilty of this in my own life. That is why trips such as these are so valuable. Not so much to the people we go to serve...but to us...to me! If I go to serve and to be served I come back doubly blessed. God reveals Himself through those we intend to serve.
The Cuban Christians are prayer warriors. They dwarf me in my faith and trust in God. They understand that we worship and owe all glory to a BIG God. He is capable of doing all things and they have BIG faith in how they worship him.
Many changes are coming to the country of Cuba. The restrictions for travel are being relaxed. The Castros are aging and many believe that when they pass from control of the government that the Cuban people will be liberated from suppression and oppression. Cubans are a people that have learned to appreciate the blessing of receiving "all they need" and not all they want. Most Christians there feel the urgent need to spread the gospel so that when Cuba "opens up" that their nation will know Christ and He is the giver of all things.
So it is humbly that I have gone and humbly that I return from my trips to Cuba. I brought back so much more than I was able to leave with them personally. When teaching about the development of radio and television I concentrate on need/necessity vs. luxury. We have become a people that expects...dare I say demands the luxuries of this world. What once was considered a luxury we now consider a necessity. May each of us learn to be content with our daily bread. May I learn to see God as a huge God and my problems as small. May each of us be thankful for all that we have in this season of Thanksgiving and may we prepare to enter the Advent season praying to hasten the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The "Cuban Way" refers to how they work the present system there to counter their oppression. But for me the Cuban Way is also an example of the boldness we should display in our proclamation of the Gospel. It refers to how they are multiplying disciples in that country. It is Acts 2 in action!
We do serve a great God...one who sent his Son to live the life we could not live, die the death that we deserved to die and conquered sin and death by rising from the dead. That is a God worth sharing to all peoples. Cuban Way? The Christian Way! Amen!
Thanks for reading.
Jeff
Friday, November 23, 2012
Thursday, November 22, 2012
The Cuban Way
It has been a while since I have written a blog. I have known for a while that I would write about my trip to Cuba this summer; but I have put it off for a number of reasons. For one thing, I did not want it to seem as if I were patting myself on the back for going to a communist country preaching the gospel. In reality, I feel that I have done nothing special...yet my pride and ego want to claim some type of kudos.
This was my second trip to Cuba in two years. Part of my desire to go back was to reestablish some of the friendships and relationships I made the first time. Another part of me felt there was some type of unfinished business there.
Last year, on the very first day I experienced a "goose pimple" moment. We had arrived in Havana very late (or very early the next morning) on our first day of travel. After getting very little rest we were off to the province of Artemesa, about an hour west of Havana. I was awestruck by the sites I was taking in. Hardly a second would go by without some new visual stimuli presenting itself. Cars from the 1950's were everywhere, motorcycles with side-cars, men riding horseback, horse and buggies, all manner of bicycles and cattle staked out by the side of the road made me know I was not in "Kansas anymore". It was all so surreal.
The first place we went was up in the mountains to a house church that had five members. That afternoon, counting our missionary team, there were 13. We were to begin the service with praise and worship. Using an old TV and a modern DVD player we would see, hear and sing along to Christian music in Spanish.
As the first song came on the TV I recognized the song and its singer. It was the niece of the woman I had been dating for nearly six years at the time. It was almost overwhelming to me. The Cubans did not know her name but the song, Perfume de tus Pies, had become a Christian anthem of sorts to the Cuban people...at least the ones in that area of Cuba.
When the song was over I was encouraged to share what I knew about the young lady singing. I told, through our translator, that I knew who she was and my connection to her through her aunt. They responded by wanting to write to her and tell her what a blessing the song had been to them, I told them I could make that happen. On the day of my departure I was given a bundle of letters and brought them back to the USA. I mailed them to her father; who in turn forwarded them on to his daughter.
I saw all of this as a sign of affirmation for my relationship with this girl's aunt. But things didn't progress as I had planned. I learned during Thanksgiving a year ago that the letters had reached their desired destination and that they had moved the recipient to the point that she decided to go to Cuba herself. She went in March, but I have no idea what part of Cuba she visited.
In the meantime, my relationship with her aunt was ending and when it came time to sign up for this year's trip to Cuba the relationship was broken and was not going to be mended. I had doubts if I wanted to go back...to relive that moment...that instance where I thought God was clearly telling me, "This is my sign to you that you are meant to be together."
But as I said, I felt I had some type of unfinished business. This was proven when several of the Cuban people ask me the first day if I got the letters to her. It had not occurred to me that they were not aware of how the story played out. That evening I was ask to share my "testimony" and I shared how God had worked in all these things.
(November 22, 2012-Thanksgiving Day)
It has been a while since I have attempted to finish this blog. Much has happened in the lives of some of my Cuban friends. The daughter of the pastor of the church we visited actually got to come to the United States to receive scoliosis surgery. This in itself is a miracle. Then our translator was granted permission to leave Cuba and he is now in the U.S. reunited with his family; after over a year of separation.
When I titled this blog entry "The Cuban Way", I was going to tell about how life is so different in Cuba. I wanted to share how resilient and resourceful these amazing people are. I will do that eventually but for now my unfinished business has taken care of itself.
I am not sure if I will return to Cuba in the near future but I know that the Lord was sovereign in all that took place before, during and after my visits there.
This was my second trip to Cuba in two years. Part of my desire to go back was to reestablish some of the friendships and relationships I made the first time. Another part of me felt there was some type of unfinished business there.
Last year, on the very first day I experienced a "goose pimple" moment. We had arrived in Havana very late (or very early the next morning) on our first day of travel. After getting very little rest we were off to the province of Artemesa, about an hour west of Havana. I was awestruck by the sites I was taking in. Hardly a second would go by without some new visual stimuli presenting itself. Cars from the 1950's were everywhere, motorcycles with side-cars, men riding horseback, horse and buggies, all manner of bicycles and cattle staked out by the side of the road made me know I was not in "Kansas anymore". It was all so surreal.
The first place we went was up in the mountains to a house church that had five members. That afternoon, counting our missionary team, there were 13. We were to begin the service with praise and worship. Using an old TV and a modern DVD player we would see, hear and sing along to Christian music in Spanish.
As the first song came on the TV I recognized the song and its singer. It was the niece of the woman I had been dating for nearly six years at the time. It was almost overwhelming to me. The Cubans did not know her name but the song, Perfume de tus Pies, had become a Christian anthem of sorts to the Cuban people...at least the ones in that area of Cuba.
When the song was over I was encouraged to share what I knew about the young lady singing. I told, through our translator, that I knew who she was and my connection to her through her aunt. They responded by wanting to write to her and tell her what a blessing the song had been to them, I told them I could make that happen. On the day of my departure I was given a bundle of letters and brought them back to the USA. I mailed them to her father; who in turn forwarded them on to his daughter.
I saw all of this as a sign of affirmation for my relationship with this girl's aunt. But things didn't progress as I had planned. I learned during Thanksgiving a year ago that the letters had reached their desired destination and that they had moved the recipient to the point that she decided to go to Cuba herself. She went in March, but I have no idea what part of Cuba she visited.
In the meantime, my relationship with her aunt was ending and when it came time to sign up for this year's trip to Cuba the relationship was broken and was not going to be mended. I had doubts if I wanted to go back...to relive that moment...that instance where I thought God was clearly telling me, "This is my sign to you that you are meant to be together."
But as I said, I felt I had some type of unfinished business. This was proven when several of the Cuban people ask me the first day if I got the letters to her. It had not occurred to me that they were not aware of how the story played out. That evening I was ask to share my "testimony" and I shared how God had worked in all these things.
(November 22, 2012-Thanksgiving Day)
It has been a while since I have attempted to finish this blog. Much has happened in the lives of some of my Cuban friends. The daughter of the pastor of the church we visited actually got to come to the United States to receive scoliosis surgery. This in itself is a miracle. Then our translator was granted permission to leave Cuba and he is now in the U.S. reunited with his family; after over a year of separation.
When I titled this blog entry "The Cuban Way", I was going to tell about how life is so different in Cuba. I wanted to share how resilient and resourceful these amazing people are. I will do that eventually but for now my unfinished business has taken care of itself.
I am not sure if I will return to Cuba in the near future but I know that the Lord was sovereign in all that took place before, during and after my visits there.
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