At the beach

These were pictures taken at the beach...I went with my family and some friends for carnivals here in Panama. I had a really great time. This place is called "Isla Grande" which means "Big Island". Every year for carnivals my brother rents a house to go to Isla Grande, he practices windsurfing so it gives him a chance, since it's summer here in Panama, to windsurf. The tide was high and the sea wasn't as calm, the sun came out for a while and then it was cloudy for a while and that is the way it was all days, but all in all it was great just to get away from the city and from your normal activities for a few days.

In this first picture it's my mom, my two sisters in law, my niece and myself.

Mom, me and Claireth. Because of the sun you won't be able to see us very well. But look at the beautiful background, God is indeed the best artist there is. I love the sea.

The following set of pictures are of myself, my mom and Claireth.

Here we are at a small pier that it's abandoned. It seems the property belonged to a french man who was remodeling everything for tourism and he died suddenly, I don't know exactly from what. Now everything is abandoned, what he worked so hard to build...pity.

A look at the beach

Me and my niece.

I do not know what my sister in law was trying to capture here in this picture...what she did manage to do was to behead me...what's up with that??? Not very nice of her :-(

At nights we played several games like Scrabble, Double Dominos and this one that you'll see in the next couple of pictures it's called Spoon. It was great, it was the first time I played it but it's definitely a keeper. After we all learned how to play it then everyone wanted to play it the following night again.















It is a game in which after a few seconds of playing it your heart starts racing so fast you think it's going to come out. It was fuuunnn!! The lady next to me and the man next to her are the directors of Campus Crusade for Christ here in Panama, Lionzo and Mary Diaz. Wonderful people of God.

They were the ones that taught us the game. We played two nights and I am proud to say that I was the winner on the first night. I beat none other than my brother...and let me tell you something...he hates loosing...hehehe. So it was all guys and only two girls and I won...it felt good. Sadly on the second night I did not win, my dad beat me....ggrrr. Maybe someday I'll write here how it is played.















A look at the house we stayed in. It belongs to an american and his panamanian wife. They were staying upstairs while we were staying downstairs. Another friend...Farit.




Going back. To get to the island you have to cross on a small motor boat and viceversa when you are going back to the mainland. Here I had already left since I had to work so I left a day before.





Arriving at the other side. You can see the island we were staying at, in the back.







The sun setting down.

Friendship

I wanted to post this for a long time, but I hadn't taken the time out to do it until now. It is based on the message my pastor preached close to February 14. The Bible has inside its pages every topic you can imagine and examples of friendship are all over it. My pastor talked about one of those examples.

First a little bit of an introduction. I want to refer to the true sense of friendship (not commercial or erotic). First let's look at a Bible passage found in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

The passage starts by saying that two are better than one and it keeps on referring to two but then at the end it says that a cord of three strands (not two) its not quickly broken. I believe the third strand to be Jesus. One strand is yourself, the second strand is your friend and the third is God.

It's very important to have true friends. You can find in the Bible people that God united, for example in Luke 10:1 when Jesus sent the 70 disciples, He sent them 2 by 2. You can read about Peter and Paul, Paul and Timothy, David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi. God has always blessed a relationship of true friends. Remember that there is an invisible strand and God gives us true friendships like the ones Moses and Joshua had, or Elijah and Elisha.

But let us see four friends in the Bible that can illustrate the power of a true friendship in the eyes of God. We can find them in the book of Daniel. I would recommend reading Daniel 1 - 3. These friends names are Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. They were young men from Israel (from Judah) taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It says that the chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. Sometimes satan wants to change your name, the name God has given you. Do not let him. God says that you are more than conqueror, that He has place you as the head not the tail, always at the top never at the bottom. So all the things God has told us through His word, do not let anything make you forget them.

Again I strongly recommend reading Daniel chapters 1, 2 and 3. But let's jump to Daniel 3. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide and he wanted everyone to bow down and worship the image that he had created and it was decreed that whoever that did not fall down and worship the statue would be immediately thrown into a blazing furnace. But Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah did not do it. Could you imagine? This is a trait I really admire, someone who does not compromises his or her beliefs.

Daniel 3:14-16

and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?" Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.

There will be times in which you do not need to defend yourself.

Daniel 3: 17-19

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual.

What a powerful stand they took, don't you think? I think so. But even if the furnace is heated seven times hotter than usual, you have a friend so stand firm.

Daniel 3: 20-25

and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?"
They replied, "Certainly, O king."
He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."

The King saw four men and the fourth looked like a son of the gods. The Prince of Peace is going to be with you no matter what the situation. He has been with you since the first day of your trial, but he will not show himself since the first day, he wants to see what will happen with your faith. Jesus is your true friend, the one you need. This friend also came as a result of their friendship. If they would have been fighting, or doubting or blaming each other, maybe the fourth one wouldn't have appeared. When we are in unity we provide the environment for the fourth one to appear. We can't live without relationships. Real friends have true things in common. If there aren't things in common, there can't be a real friendship. For example, someone who really believes in freedom can't be friends with a terrorist. Someone who believes in capitalism can't be real friends with a communist. At one point or the other those differences will come in between in the friendship.

James 4:4 - don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.


These young men had things in common. They were Jewish.

Daniel 1: 3-4

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility- young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.

As I mentioned before, they were taken as captives to Babylon. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah could have been filled with bitterness at losing their parents at such an age, they had to learn a new language, get used to another culture, other kind of food. If you have suffered don't allow that to be an obstacle, keep on going, the fourth man is waiting for you further down the path.

Daniel 1:8

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.

They decided not to defile themselves, not to contaminate themselves. God honors the ones who honor Him. The fourth man was already there with them. The Kings food had unclean animals (pork, blood, etc). Daniel told himself "this goes against what God told us". Make a decision not to contaminate yourself. You can't share things that go against Gods word.
Friendship is based on common values and principles. Things in which you really believe and that you would give your life for them. Friendship is also something that has to do with identity - who you are. There will be times in which people are not truly your friends but are friends of what you are at the moment, of your position, of your wealth. Once you no longer have that, those so called "friends" disappear. I think these young men before being taken as captives had listened to Gods word not only from their parents but from Jeremiah the prophet. Even though they were taken they did not lose their identity. When the devil saw he could not take away their identity, their food, their prayer time, he said to himself - "well I am going to take away their names". Names in the Bible signified how the person was:

Isaac - laughter
Jacob - someone who deceives
Daniel - God is my judge
Hananiah - God has given me grace, I live because of the grace of God
Mishael - someone who comes from God
Azariah - the Lord is my helper

The devil wanted to take away their names.

Daniel - they named him Belteshazzar - Bels treasure, Bel was one of their gods. So it's calling Daniel a treasure from satan. Do no accept it, you are the Lords treasure.
Hananiah - they named him Shadrach - someone who comes from the sun. The sun was one of their gods.
Mishael - they named him Meshach - property of another one of their gods
Azariah - they named him Abednego - a servant of their god nego.

Even though their names were changed they did not lose their identities, do not lose yours.
If you are told you are sick, weak, poor, in debt...this is not your identity. Do not accept the name the world wants to give you. Have friendship with people who have an identity and also know your friends identities. When you accept the change of identity you are accepting what life imposes on you. For example look at Naomi in Ruth 1:20 - "Don't call me Naomi, " she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.. Naomi means pleasant, but she accepted the change and wanted to be call Mara which means bitter.

Remember the fourth man is waiting for you, do not accept the identity circumstances want to give you. You have to be steadfast. You can call me whatever you want, in my heart I know that I am more than conqueror, head and not tail.

These young men were an influence among themselves. If you read Daniel 2 then you already read that King Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that he wanted interpreted but he did not remember the dreams. He called his magicians and enchanters but they couldn't tell him what the dreams meant if they didn't know what he had dreamt about. So the king got really angry and was going to kill all the wise men of Babylon. When Daniel found out he asked the king for time to interpret the dream.

Daniel 2:16-23

At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him. Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said:
"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons;
he sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers:
You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king."

Daniel didn't call them Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He identified them with the names God had given them. He defied the decree ordering everyone to call them Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. But Daniel did not care; for him they were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Talk to your friend with the identity God has given him/her. These are the friends that give victory, power. Imagine if Daniel and his friends would have said to themselves, let's go hide because the king has ordered the death of all the wise men, let's find a cave. Do not accept the identity the devil wants to give you. You have to treat your friend with the identity God has given him/her. Life is not easy but never give up your identity. Instead of worrying or arguing about this matter, Daniel asked his friends to pray with him so that the dream would be revealed. Good friends are the ones you can go to when you need prayer, when you need God to show you mercy and wisdom, people you can trust.

Relationships can build or can destroy. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:33 - Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

We have to ask God to turn us into real friends.



I haven't finished but I am falling asleep so...

...too be continued at another post

Things that happen...be careful

This is sad. But I'm sure it can and maybe even has happened. Things are not always what they seem to be.



Letter

Dear husband:

I'm writing this letter to let you know that I have decided to leave you, for both our sake.
I've been a good woman for you these past seven years, however I can't think of anything that was good for me.

These last two weeks have been horrible: your boss called to tell me you had quit your job today and that was the last thing I could handle.

Last week you came home and you didn't even mention anything about my new haircut and my nails; I cooked your favorite meal and I even used a new negligee. You got home and ate in two minutes and then went straight to sleep after watching the ball game.

You don't tell me that you love me anymore, you don't touch me. Either you are cheating me with someone else or you don't love me anymore. Whatever the case may be, I want to go, I'm leaving you.

P.S. Don't try to look for me. Your brother and I moved to West Virginia together.
Have a nice life.
Your Ex-wife.




Dear Ex-wife:

I felt empty when I read your letter. It is true that we have been married for seven years, however that doesn't mean you have been a good woman, on the contrary.

I watch the games constantly to try and drown your constant complaints and bad attitudes. It's too bad our marriage didn't work because I did love you.

I did notice you had a haircut and the first thing that pop into my mind was: she looks like a man!!!

But my mother taught me that if I can't say something good about someone it's better not to say anything.

When you cooked my favorite meal, you must have confused me with my brother, because I stopped eating pork almost 7 years ago.

I went to sleep when you wore that negligee, because the price tag was still on it. I prayed that it was a coincidence that my brother had asked me for $50.00 that same morning and your tag showed $49.99.

After all this, since I still loved you, I felt that we could still work out our relationship. So, when I learned that I had won the lotto...$50 million, I quit my job to have all the time for you and besides that I purchased two tickets to Jamaica. But when I got back home, you had already left.

I hope you have the life you always wanted. My lawyer says that because of the letter you left me, you will not receive a cent from me. So take care.

Your Ex-husband

Think about it...

It's the afternoon of a typical Friday and you are driving home. You turn on the radio and on the news there is a story of little importance: in a town very far away from where you are three people have died of some kind of flu that has never been seen before. You don't pay much attention to it...

When you wake up on Monday, you hear that it's no longer 3 people, but 30,000 the ones who have died on some remote hills of India.

Disease control people in the U.S., have gone to investigate. On Tuesday it has become the most important news on the first page of the newspaper, because it's no longer only India, but Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, soon it's all over the news. They are calling it the "Mysterious Influenza" and everybody is asking themselves: How are we going to control it?

Suddenly, something that surprises everyone: Europe closes its borders, no flights from India to France, or from any other country where the illness has been spotted. You are watching the news regarding the closed borders issue when you hear a woman from France say that there is a man already in the hospital dying of the "Mysterious Influenza". There is panic in Europe.

The information says that when you have the virus, it's for a week and you don't even notice it. Then you have 4 days of horrible symptoms and then you die.

England closes its borders also, but it's too late, the disease has already entered that nation as well. One more day goes by and the President of the United States closes its borders to Europe and Asia, to avoid the infection in his country until the cure is found...

The following day, people are gathering in churches to pray for a cure and someone comes inside saying: turn on the radio and then you hear the news: 2 women have died in New York. In a few hours, it seems the disease has invaded the whole world.

Scientists keep working to find the antidote, but nothing works. Suddenly, what everyone has been waiting for: the DNA code of the virus has been broken. The antidote can be made. They are going to require the blood of someone who has not been infected. The news spread all around the countries so that people would go to the nearest hospital and have a blood test done. You go as volunteer along with your family and some neighbors asking yourself: what will happen? could this be the end of the world?...

Suddenly a doctor comes shouting a name that he has read on the record. Your youngest child is beside you, grabs your jacket and says: Daddy...that's my name!...Before you can react your child is being taken away and you yell: Wait!...they answer back saying: everything is ok, his blood is clean, his blood is pure. We think he has the correct blood type.

After 35 very long minutes, physicians come out crying and laughing. It's the first time you have seen someone laugh in a week. The oldest doctor approaches you and says: Thank you sir, your sons blood is perfect, it's clean and pure, we can make the antidote for this disease.

The news spread all over, people are praying and crying of happiness.

Then the doctor comes back and tells you and your wife: could we talk for a moment? We didn't know the donor would be a child and we need you to sign this consent to give us permission to use his blood. When you are reading the document, you notice they haven't written the amount they'll need and you ask: How much blood?...the smile on the doctors face disappears and he answers: we didn't think it was going to be a child. We were not prepared. We need it all!!... You can't believe it and try to answer back: "But, but...". The doctor insists, "you don't understand, we are talking of the cure for the whole world. Please sign, we need it...all. Then you ask: Can you give him a transfusion? they answer: if we had clean blood we could...

Will you sign?...please?...Sign!!...silently, numb fingers holding the pen, you sign. They ask you: Would you like to see your son? You walk towards the ER where your son is sitting on a bed saying: Daddy! Mommy!, what is going on?

You take his hand and tell him: Baby, mommy and I love you very much and we would never let anything happen to you that it wasn't necessary, can you understand this? Then the doctor comes back and says: I'm sorry we need to start, people all over the world are dying...

Can you leave? Can you give your back to your son and leave him there?...meanwhile he says...Daddy?, Mommy? why are you leaving me?...

The following week, they perform a ceremony to honor your son, some people stay asleep at home, others don't come because they rather go for a stroll or watch a football game and others come to the ceremony with a false smile pretending they care.

You would like to stand up and shout: My son died for all of you!!! Don't you care??!!....

Maybe that is what God is trying to tell you: My son died for you, you still don't know how much I love you?

Isn't it curious how simple it's for people to reject God and afterwards ask themselves why the world is going from bad to worse.

Isn't it curious to see how people can believe everything they read on the newspapers, but question what the Bible says.

Isn't it curious how somebody can say: "I believe in God", but show something entirely different with their actions.

Isn't it curious how lust, crude, vulgar and obscene is sent freely through the web, but public discussion about Jesus is eliminated from schools and workplaces.

Isn't it curious to see how we are more worried of what people might think about us than what God might think about us?

It is curious.

I pray that when you read this you will be blessed by it, touched by it and confronted by it...if you read it, think about it and believe...that Jesus was sent over 2000 years ago to die on the cross and justify us for our sins. He was sent out of pure love for you, He gave all his blood for you, his life for you.

You still have and opportunity...don't waste it!!

John 3:16
Romans 5:8-9
Hebrews 9:14