In the Secret of His Presence
by Sandra McCracken

In the secret of His presence
How my soul delights to hide
Oh how precious are the lessons
That I learn at Jesus' side

Earthly cares forever vex me
All my trials lay me low
But when Satan comes to tempt me
To that secret place I go -
To that secret place I go.

When my soul is faint and thirsty
'Neath the shadow of Your wings
There is cool and pleasant shelter
And a fresh and crystal spring

And my Savior rests beside me
As we share communion sweet
If I tried I could not utter
What He says when thus we meet;
What He says when thus we meet.

Only this I know; I tell Him
All my doubts, my griefs, my fears
Oh, how patiently He listens
And my sorrowed soul He cheers

Dare you think he ne'er reproves me
What a false friend He would be
If He never, ever told me
Of the sin which He must see -
Of the sin which He must see.

Would you like to know the sweetness
Of the secret of the Lord?
Go and hide beneath His shadow
And this shall then be your reward...

And whene'er you leave the silence
Of that happy meeting place
You will surely bear the image
Of the Master in your face;
Of the Master in your face.

chavos

Here's a foto of us today with the teenagers we'll be hanging out with every Saturday afternoon from now on.  They're all cool guys, but most of them have pretty sad stories.  They all work together on this corner in the zona rosa, washing the windshields of cars that are stopped at this intersection while the stoplight is red.  If they're lucky, they make 50 pesos (5 dollars) a day, which is hardly enough to support themselves, let alone a family.  They were all either drinking, huffing glue, or both, to dull the pain.  Please pray that God would reveal Himself to each of these brothers.

What a heavenly Father we have!

Hey everyone,

Greetings to you on this sunny Saturday morning here in D.F.  I just finished listening to a sermon, the second in a series of three on how to pray like Jesus, from Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  A guy named Mark Driscoll is the senior pastor there and I would highly recommend subscribing to his podcast if you haven't already.  God is definitely using him to do some  awesome things for the kingdom, not only in Seattle, but on a national level as well.  So, yea.  Check his podcast out.

Anyway, one of his points throughout this series has been that God truly is our dad, and that we should pray to him accordingly.  It's so wonderful to be reminded that our father is not distant, he's close.  Not judging, but compassionate.  Not cruel, but loving.  Not foolish, but wise (though most of the time I think I know better).  Desiring not just his own glory, but our joy as well, simultaneously!  

This afternoon, we're going to hang out with a group of kids who call the streets their home.  It's heart-breaking to imagine how most of them probably view their earthly fathers.  In fact, will talking with them about their heavenly Father only conjure up memories of being abused or abandoned?  How can we show them the love of the Father when so many of their earthly fathers did such a poor job of pointing to Him?  All we can do is love them like the Father in the power of Spirit, right?  Jesus came to bind up the broken-hearted, didn't He?  I pray that Jesus would show them that He died to save them, as He did for all people.  Even if they have never known love before, that, by God's grace, they would meet Love Himself today.  I pray that the kingdom of God would grow a little bigger today.  Paz y alegria en Cristo a todos uds.    

Why me?

Hey friends,

I just wanted to put up a really quick first post tonight.  It won't be long, as I've already spent most of the afternoon and evening putting together my first monthly update.  Nevertheless, I've been thinking a lot today about how loved and blessed I am and how little I deserve it.  In fact, I deserve none of it.  God is good.  He is so good!  Why do I get to be here in a city that I love, with new friends I love and who love me, with more than enough money to live comfortably, getting to learn and speak a language I love, getting to serve a people group I love?  And even as I sit here thinking about how blessed I am by God, I begin to miss the point.  It's not about me receiving gifts from Him.  It's not about me at all.  It's about Him!  Jesus, my savior, who died for me, an object of mercy who should have known wrath.  Indeed, He is so good!  Hallelujah!  

One final note for my friend Josiah:  your story about how God sometimes delights to bless us in strange ways, like when you saw lots of yellow butterflies that one day, came into my mind this morning.  Seriously, not ten seconds after it did, some of the biggest and most brilliantly sunshine-yellow butterflies I'd ever seen in my life fluttered by the window.  I really missed you then.  But then I remembered how much God must love us, and I felt better.  Love you bro.