Greetings in Jesus precious Name. School ended on July 8th and Sherie and I have been greatly enjoying summer vacation. Our recent weeks have been filled with school maintenance such as pressure washing, replacing termite eaten boards, and repainting. I have been also busy doing maintenance on the mission vehicles, houses, and the usual of updating work permits and paying the bills. The past several weeks Sherie and I were the only couple in LaBorie so that adds a bit of extra church responsibilities on our shoulders. We have also taken some time for relaxing a bit, which has been very refreshing for us. Late evening scooter rides, ice cream cones, beach trips and lots of time together.
On July 16th Carlus Edwards and Lynette Bauman got married. Sherie and I were coordinators for the wedding. The day started out beautiful as we set up for an outdoor wedding overlooking the ocean. The ceremony was outside and the reception under a big tent. The bridal procession had just walked down the isle and we could see heavy clouds looming our way (coordinators nightmare). About 5 minutes into the message with rain looking very threatening we decided it necessary to head to the tent. Everyone carried their chair and a few of us raced around carrying the sound equipment. We finished the service under the tent as the rain fell. It soon cleared off and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.
August 8-9 was Carnival in Grenada. From what I understand Carnival originated from Catholic European settlers who hosted masquerade balls to celebrate days of lent. The slaves added their West African traditions and the dates for this celebration were eventually moved to August as national holidays. Part of Carnival is the Jab Jab were people dress to look like the devil. The cover their bodies with used motor oil, wear hats with horns, and drag chains. I have often tried to tell the boys at boys club that Carnival and Jab Jab is sin. By far the most common response is "but Mr. Weaver it is cultural." I have explained time and time again the something that is 'cultural' that goes against God's Word is still sin. Oh that people would wake up! They call themselves 'Christian' but try to look like the devil?! It makes my heart so sad each time I see little shirtless children covered in oil dancing around, just doing what their parents and culture do. To escape the evils of Carnival, the church goes camping up country for several days. It is always a fun time of singing, cooking, and playing together as believers.
We are planning to return to PA on August 23rd for my sister Angela's wedding. Lord willing we will return to Grenada the beginning of October. This week is busy trying to do as much work as possible in advance for while we are gone. School is scheduled to restart September 5th, and even though we won't be here for that, there are still a lot of things to get ready. Please pray that God will bless us with a safe trip Tuesday afternoon, August 23.
I will close with a verse that has challenged me recently. Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? The phrase "the love of Christ" does not make it clear whether it is Christ's love for us or our love for Christ. I have always understood it to mean Christ's love for us and I do not want to downplay Christ's love for us. However, is the list of things in Romans 8:35 sins or sufferings? They are sufferings. It only make sense that if we suffer tribulation or distress for Jesus that He will love us, after all, we are suffering for Him. What if it means our love for Christ? What convinced me was a verse search in the Ante-Nicene Fathers (the writings of the early church up to year 325) and the early church often quoted this verse in the context of our love for Christ. So let us ask ourselves, "what will separate us from loving Christ?" In the time this verse was written the church was facing the things listed in Romans 8:35 such as distress, persecution, and sword. But they didn't allow distress, persecution or sword to separate their love for Christ, in fact many people were martyred because of their love for Christ. Today in the West we don't often face these sufferings in the same way. Rather Satan is very subtitle and tries to separate our love for Christ through being busy, earthly possessions, worldly entertainment, and the list could go on. So let us each ask ourselves "Who shall separate us from our love for Christ?" Blessings on your week.
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