A Blog Post about PV

The time changed here about a month ago now and the mercury has spent a few days in the upper echelons of the thermometer. There are mornings when the air is so heavy you know it is only a matter of time before it will just dump (I learned a new word last week- pancada de chuva - which means downpour). Then, while the humidity lingers and the rain dies off, the temperature drops and you almost forget how hot it was just a couple hours earlier. Ahh, spring is here. The magnolia tree outside bows its head under the weight of its heavy flowers. Their sweet aroma is almost as heavy as the flower on the branch. The grass springs up so fast and tall after a day of rain followed by a day of sun that you start to worry that you might loose a toddler or a member of the youth group out there in the grass. (What it was like in South Dakota to have to mow the grass two or three times a summer?)

Ahh spring. Santas are hanging from the trees in the park across the street in all of their red and white winter clothes. They look like they could be drowning in a puddle of their own sweat. Does the Northern Hemisphere dominate the Christmas season so much that we have to see Christmas moose wrapped up in a scarves, "snow" underneath the Christmas tree in the mall, and sleds and skis out in the lawn to help decorate? How is Santa Claus supposed to land on a clay-tiled roof in the middle of summer and slide down the chimney into the barbecue pit anyway? I guess I haven't noticed any stockings on the mantle yet.

This post is getting more random by the minute but it is a good illustration of an important leadership quality. If you don't know where you are going when you leave, you probably will arrive somewhere eventually but only after you have wasted a lot of time.

And speaking of leadership, I did spend the last weekend at a retreat for leaders of Word of Life's Bible Clubs (Palavra da Vida or PV). I am not a leader of a PV Bible Club but I got to attend anyway. I have not had a lot of contact with Word of Life in the past. They have a very well developed ministry in our state and in Brazil with a very strong camp and discipleship program. It was very refreshing to hear someone preaching dispensations without making excuses or acting embarrassed. One of PV's ministries is Grupo EMME, a singing group made up of about 30 young people who spend a couple months in intense voice and music training and then the rest of the year touring Brasil. They are directed by John W. Peterson's brother ("Magoo" Peterson) and are singing several of John Peterson's cantatas this year. They were about as good as any group I have ever heard. We were able to get a couple of short camera videos that we will try to upload soon.

I was also super jazzed to learn that PV of Argentina is doing a missions work in Cuba. While generations have come and gone without hearing of Christ in that little island nation as a result of their isolation, what a joy it was to hear of those who are working hard to see that Cuba is reached with the gospel. And what a greater joy it would be if/when relations are normalized so that Americans could re-enter Cuba, if Christian missionaries filled the first plane to leave Miami for Havana. Let us pray that God would bring glory to His name in this, for it is not quite as important which political system wins as it is where millions of people spend eternity.

And one more random thought . . . how exactly are you supposed to respond when your almost two year old daughter starts praying for a puppy? (which was the idea of her mother)