Trip to the Coast

It’s been my joy recently to minister at the coast every other weekend.  This weekend’s trip was typical, so I’ll describe it to you in representation of them all.

On Friday, Stélio and I left the office an hour early, at 3pm.  Along the highway through town, we picked up his brother and Kátia near their homes, then continued east for another 200 kilometers.  Thankfully we weren’t stuck behind slow cars for very long, so by 6pm, at nightfall, we entered our destination city.  Then we hit a bad traffic jam, with many large trucks seemingly parked on the road, but thankfully we found an alternate route and arrived at church just in time for Stélio to lead the evening’s Bible study.

That day’s lesson was on the original created state of man before the Fall, but we didn’t even get past the introduction!  The topic of marriage ignited our attention, and Stélio spent a long time explaining how God’s design for this sacred institution differs radically from the relationships we see in today’s culture.  I chimed in to exhort the women to faithfulness as helpmeets to their husbands. We finished so late that it was nearly 9pm by the time I arrived at Angelo and Helena’s house to eat the supper they’d saved for me, bathe from a bucket, and sleep in the bedroom that feels more like home each time I visit.

We were back at the church on Saturday for Stélio’s theological reading group, which discussed the latter half of James Buchanan’s Not Guilty.  I marveled afresh at God’s wondrous grace in pardoning all my sin and imputing to me the perfect righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ.  We finished at noon, and Angelo and I returned to his house for the lunch Helena had prepared.

Unfortunately, Helena wasn’t feeling well enough to accompany me to the women’s study that afternoon, pictured here.  But I was still delighted, as always, to see the excitement with which the participants received the Scriptural truths we discovered together.  Our previous study had covered Biblical instructions for women, so this time we examined the lives of six Old Testament women — Sarah, Jael, Ruth, Hannah, Jehoshabeath, and Esther — who exemplified obedience to those commands, to God’s glory and to the benefit of His people.  That evening I napped on the couch as I waited for dinner, and after eating settled into bed for a full night of rest.

When worship began on Sunday morning, the songleader hadn’t yet arrived, so the pastor asked me to play guitar, leading the congregation in any hymns of my choice.  I hesitated because I was unprepared, but at his insistence I played for two songs while a few people sang along, then returned to my seat while the songleader, who had just arrived, accompanied a couple of other choruses on guitar.  Next, as planned, I sang a special challenging young people to fully dedicate themselves to the Lord.

During the moment of silent prayer before the sermon, feeling rattled by my impromptu guitar performance, I pleaded with God to fit me for worship.  He answered immediately when Simon rose to admonish the congregation to prepare better for services.  The pastor’s comments in response paved the way for me to explain that I felt I was offering trash to God when as a professional musician I was called upon to play without enough advance notice to prepare music worthy of our glorious God.  With help from Stélio in understanding my concern, the pastor asked my forgiveness on the spot for causing me to sin.  I forgave him and then gratefully soaked in his sermon on holiness, from Romans 12:1-2 and many passages in Ephesians.  He boldly proclaimed the truth on sexual purity and other hot topics.  After worship, as arranged beforehand with the pastor, I led the congregation in a brainstorming session regarding the national Bible bee we hope to launch soon.

After lunch at home, the church’s women piled into my pickup for an outing to the beach!  Their playful chatter along the drive showed how much they value one another in Christian love.  Guarding their purses in the shade while they splashed and took selfies at the water’s edge, I prayed for God’s work in each of their hearts.  At nightfall, after dropping them all off near their homes, I arrived at Angelo and Helena’s home to write this update and pack up for our 4am departure.  Lord willing, we’ll be back at work at 7:30 Monday morning!