Fasting for wisdom

Dear Friends and Family,

We are in the midst of a very busy time here in Oaxaca and at the Rocablanca mission base. We´ve had two short-term groups come and go and two more coming this week and next. Laura continues to assist Lupe in Mexico City in her recuperation from her stroke. We have seen that God is faithful even at the last minute as He has provided for our needs and worked among us as we minister in various communities.

Angelica has her six month appt. with the gyne tomorrow and we anticipate that all will be well. She continues to feel good and enjoy immensely this new experience in her life. We can´t wait until next month when another ultrasound should tell us the gender of our child. We continue to plan for a mid-July departure for Puebla to prepare for the birth and then hopefully a quick trip to Chicago in Nov. for Dad´s wedding.

Dan has decided to participate in a 40 day fast called by various national ministries in the US. It is especially for wisdom for a number of crucial decisions that we need to make in the coming days, weeks and months. While we don´t agree with everything that this fast is about we believe that there is enough common ground that allows us to unite to see God do what He desires both in the US and around the world. You can read about it at the link below.

Thank you for your continued partnership with us through prayer, finances and visits. We continue to pray for you as well.

in Christ,

Dan & Angelica



Calling America to a 40 day Fast
May 28-July 6, 2007

Lou Engle and The Call leadership team along with many national ministries are calling America to join together in seeking God according to Joel 2:12-28.

"Now, therefore," says the LORD, "Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning." 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. 14 Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him…15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; 16 gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes; let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room. 17 Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not give Your heritage to reproach…Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?' " 18 Then the LORD will be zealous for His land, and pity His people…28 And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. (Joel 2:12-28) http://www.ihop.org/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=1000014470

And one more reason for this time of fasting for wisdom. We need to listen to the prophets of God however they come to us like this quote from the famous "anti-war Mom" who has given up in discouragement with the whole system. But the following quote from one of the Christian Peacemaker Team members kidnapped in Iraq last year on why he won´t testify in the trial of his supposed kidnappers. Our hope is in the freedom that Christ brings alone.

Cindy Sheehan writes:

"I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of 'right or left', but 'right and wrong,'" the diary says. Sheehan criticized "blind party loyalty" as a danger, no matter which side it involved, and said the current two-party system is "corrupt" and "rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland." Sheehan said she had sacrificed a 29-year marriage and endured threats to put all her energy into stopping the war. What she found, she wrote, was a movement "that often puts personal egos above peace and human life." But she said the most devastating conclusion she had reached "was that Casey did indeed die for nothing ... killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think". "Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives," she wrote. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most."

From James Loney of CPT:

Jim ends his statement by saying, “We want to see an end to all killing, regardless of the reason. Capital punishment is simply the legal face of the dead-end cycle of violence and retribution for violence that is destroying Iraq. We want to see something genuinely new and different, a future that begins with the power of forgiveness.”This is an example of who we are as Christians. Death – and all its attendant principalities and powers of violence cloaked in the lie of necessary evil – has no dominion over us. This is the freedom that we are offered in Christ.

John Stott on the global economic divide

For those who don´t know who John Stott is, he is a retired Anglican pastor in England, who traveled around the world encouraging Christian leaders from the "global south" to a ministry of preaching the Word of God. The following quotes from him speak to the still urgent need in our world today. The organization that continues his worldwide ministry can be seen at:
http://www.johnstott.org/


The sin of Dives
We are all tempted to use the enormous complexity of international economies as an excuse to do nothing. Yet this was the sin of Dives. There is no suggestion that Dives was responsible for the poverty of Lazarus either by robbing or by exploiting him. The reason for Dives's guilt is that he ignored the beggar at his gate and did precisely nothing to relieve his destitution. He acquiesced in a situation of gross economic inequality, which had rendered Lazarus less than fully human and which he could have relieved. The pariah dogs that licked Lazarus's sores showed more compassion than Dives did. Dives went to hell because of his indifference. --From 'Economic Equality Among Nations: A Christian Concern?' "Christianity Today" (2 May 1980).


Our blind spot
It is easy to criticize our Christian forebears for their blindness. It is much harder to discover our own. What will posterity see as the chief Christian blind spot of the last quarter of the twentieth century? I do not know. But I suspect it will have something to do with the economic oppression of the Third World and the readiness with which western Christians tolerate it, and even acquiesce in it. Only slowly is our Christian conscience being aroused to the gross economic inequalities between the countries of the North Atlantic and the southern world of Latin America, Africa and most parts of Asia. Total egalitarianism may not be a biblical ideal. But must we not roundly declare that luxury and extravagance are indefensible evils, while much of the world is undernourished and underprivileged? Many more Christians should gain the economic and political qualifications to join in the quest for justice in the world community. And meanwhile, the development of a less affluent lifestyle, in whatever terms we may define it, is surely an obligation that Scripture lays on us in compassionate solidarity with the poor. Of course we can resist these things and even use (misuse) the Bible to defend our resistance. The horror of the situation is that our affluent culture has drugged us; we no longer feel the pain of other people's deprivations. Yet the first step toward the recovery of our Christian integrity is to be aware that our culture blinds, deafens and dopes us. Then we shall begin to cry to God to open our eyes, unstop our ears and stab our dull consciences awake, until we see, hear and feel what through his Word he has been saying to us all the time. Then we shall take action. --From "Culture and the Bible" (Downers Grove: IVP, 1981), p. 36.

The principle of simplicity
Materialism is an obsession with material things. Asceticism is the denial of the good gifts of the Creator. Pharisaism is binding ourselves and other people with rules. Instead, we should stick to principles. The principle of simplicity is clear. Simplicity is the first cousin of contentment. Its motto is, 'We brought nothing into this world, and we can certainly carry nothing out.' It recognizes that we are pilgrims. It concentrates on what we *need*, and measures this by what we *use*. It rejoices in the good things of creation, but hates waste and greed and clutter. It knows how easily the seed of the Word is smothered by the 'cares and riches of this life'. It wants to be free of distractions, in order to love and serve God and others. --From "The Christian and the Poor" (All Souls Paper: London: All Souls Church, 16 February 1981).

One immigrant´s story

Please listen to this amazing story of a one time undocumented ("illegal") Mexican immigrant who in 20 years has become a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins. Thank you NPR for this story.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10013111



Sam Brownback: 'The Poor Will Save Us'
The Republican senator says it just might take a religious revival to save America.
Interview by David Kuo

Sam Brownback, Republican senior senator from Kansas, has his eyes on the White House. He is a social conservative through and through. He is staunchly pro-life. He is against gay marriage. He is also radically pro-poor and has spent much time and effort trying to bring the poor's plight - particularly in Africa - to America's attention. He sat down with Beliefnet's Washington editor, David Kuo, to talk openly and in depth about his religious faith and what it is going to take to save America. Watch segments of the interview or read an extended version below.