Cleury, one of the pastors at the retreat, cooked deep-fried chicken for one of the meals. Someone converted a disk from a cultivator into a deep-fryer.
The chicken was as good as it looks. Cleury and her husband Ricardo are ranchers and the pastors of the church hosting this youth retreat.
Everyone slept in hammocks at the retreat. This is one of four buildings, and the roofs were big enough to keep out most of the torrential seasonal rain.
Most of these people come from challenging situations. All the people in my small group were raised by single moms. I think eight people made a decision to follow Jesus, and a few more reconciled from a backslidden state.
From 1996 to 2006, the mission fleet grew to seven boats and an airplane. Over time we started more churches along the roads. Motorcycles and pickups are less expensive to maintain. Still, there is a vast river basin that millions call home. Last month Clenildo went out to this remote region and restarted three churches using the more-sustainable Discovery Group model. Sustainable, ever-expanding, church planting is our dream.
Here is the Mission Fleet, back in 2002. The largest boat is 20m and sleeps 60. The next one is 15m and sleeps 45. The smallest boat belonged to a buffalo rancher who is now with Jesus.
After this storm, when four of our boats sank, I stopped praying for more adventures… for a season. Now I do my best to enjoy each day, whether calm, stressful, or off-the-charts. We are living on a pale blue dot spinning a complete rotation each day, plus we are traveling around the sun each year, predictably tilting slightly so we can enjoy seasons, and God is feeding all the birds. I want to enjoy the ride.
All four of these boats sank due to an unexpected storm. When the wind blows off the land, it is manageable. The storm occasionally comes from across the 10 km wide river, creating enormous waves. The airplane was not at the site during the big storm.
After that big storm, we anchored our boats offshore. It was more hassle getting back and forth on canoes, but the boats will bob up and down in the water if it is deep enough, compared to getting slammed into the beach for hours.
This is how it looks when the water comes over your vehicle’s hood. Our truck does not have a snorkel. That bump in our hood is the air intake. Three times the water came over our hood on this trip, and the last time it came ten cm up onto our windshield, creating that satisfying feeling when you get to use your 4×4 like a 4×4.
We are heading into a hole on the driver’s side. Can you see the truck sliding into a hole of unknown depth?
On the way to Santarem, Deanna kept scrunching her eyes shut through the good parts while holding on to my phone, so I couldn’t take photos either. On the way back, though, she caught some of the good moments. All these photos are thanks to Deanna. Even so, it is hard to capture the emotion. As you can see in this photo, we are just coming through a big hole, and the water is running off the hood of our vehicle. If you visit us in the rainy season, I’ll see if I can work in a trip.
Sometimes we drove right into a sheet of heavy rain, which was the best the wipers could do on high speak. That is a motorcycle in front of us, pulled off to the side.
When I was younger, I longed for adventure. Then, after a wild storm that sank four of our boats on the Xingu River while we were at a remote retreat, I started praying for no more adventures, or at least less. Now I do my best to enjoy each moment God gives us fully, the awesome boring days, the awesome white-knuckle days, and everything in between.
Each way included 7.5 hours on ashphalt, and 6.5 hours on dirt roads, and while the pavement had stretches with big potholes in unexpected places, we liked it better. Comparatively speaking, driving on pavement feels like floating on clouds.
This week we drove two days to Santarem, stopping in to visit pastors and friends along the way.
Some of the mud holes were filled with muddy water. One time the water came right over the hood of the truck and up to our windshield. And on the hills, big trucks were stuck and were able to drive around them on the muddy hillside. Sometimes trucks get stuck across the road, and it takes many hours for a tractor to come and untangle the mess. Thankfully we were not stopped for too long, and we got to Santarem in time for the meetings.
The motorcycle and the truck drivers are the most amazing. They have the greatest challenges on these slippery roads with huge muddy stretches. It gets better if it doesn’t rain for a day.
This is a prized Brazil Nut tree. The wild version of these trees grows for 50 years before they give nuts. They are protected by law.
Jefferson and Simone made us an outstanding fish dinner with salad, açai, and good company…
I am continually amazed at the number of super-sincere, dedicated, committed Christians who are doing their best to follow Jesus. In every country where I travel, in Canada, Brazil, and the United States and also South Africa, Ethiopia, Angola, and Mozambique, sincere Christians are embedded in communities. I am honoured to know them and to be their friend.
It’s not just people, either, who try hard. One of our dogs always runs up to me when she sees me in the yard. She sits in front of me, wrinkles her forehead, and stares at me. She tries so hard to be obedient and please me that I feel sorry for her. It is impossibly hard for her to understand my world.
Thankfully God came to earth to help bridge the understanding gap between us humans and Himself. But still… what do we do when we are trying our best to obey God and do the right things, and it doesn’t seem to be enough? What happens when we sacrificially serve God, and we are misunderstood, people criticize us, friends leave our church, or our husband/wife/children act in ways that don’t make sense? It is a short distance between trying your hardest and developing a victim mentality. “I know I am doing my best, so the problem must be somewhere else.” Maybe there is a better way forward.
A Different Gear
If a leader gets stuck along the development path of those they are/were leading, it may be like a truck driver who doesn’t shift gears in a mountainous region. They keep trying their best with the gear they are comfortable with, but other trucks pass them, and people are honking and impatient… it’s dangerous.
In Genesis 2:24, the biblical author included a foundational principle of human relationships. There is a time we are like God to our children. We provide all they need to live. Our children become adults and develop their own relationships directly with God. Our family authority/responsibility/power relationship slowly shifts. Our power-over relationship shifts to a side-by-side peer relationship.
In my observation, this organic-relationship principle is true in families, teams, church plants, and movements. A different style of organizing is hierarchical, where submission is an important doctrine, and this appears to work well for some groups of people. But, when Christian leaders are trying their best, and their followers act in ways that seem bizarre, perhaps the followers are not actually rebellious but crying out to mature as people and as Christians.
Why Do We Hesitate To Shift Gears?
We Might Feel Responsible For our Followers
For sincere followers of Jesus, feeling responsible for followers is a big deal. The problem comes in when your followers do not agree that you are responsible, or at least not in the way you are trying to protect them. For example, have you ever tried to help someone who does not want your help? How did that work out for you? Have you ever tried to give counsel to someone who did not want your counsel?
We Might Feel Responsible to God
The most sincere Christians feel their responsibility to God. They are not afraid of sacrifice. They will make difficult decisions when necessary. The challenge is that when we overpower those around us for the greater good, who knows who is right? Jesus said the time was coming when people would think they were serving God while persecuting the disciples. People who want to follow God sincerely may work against God.
“For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God” (NLT, John 16:2).
The Transition
When God has leaders who sincerely want to serve Him, God is capable and willing to orchestrate circumstances to get their attention. The question is the shifting target of when to press in, and when to change our ways. Jesus has some advice.
Jesus’ Solution
Lower the Hierarchies
Jesus thinks it’s not only ok for His disciples to lay down their burden of authority, but He is also willing to pick it up if we will only work to connect people to Him. People are most ready to turn to Jesus when they are hurting, but when leaders strive to protect their followers from mistakes and pain, sometimes they risk short-circuiting God’s work. Does that make sense?
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matt. 23:8-11).
Servant Leadership
Jesus taught that God desires servant leaders.
But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:25-28).
In God’s Kingdom, the leaders work to serve their followers. When we study the example of Jesus, we see He did not mean that leaders lose their self and lose their way, but rather that they continue resiliently on their journey to heaven while serving those around them.
Servant Leadership is characterized by leaders who put their followers above their bottom line. The hope is that if the leader selflessly serves their followers, the followers will respond with their best efforts.
Do you have experience with Servant Leaders in your family, church, school, or work? Do you think that servant leadership is possible in families, marriages, churches, and businesses?
If you have relationship challenges, what would happen if you let go of your “right” to authority over others or their authority over you? What if the Holy Spirit could teach you Servant Leadership, Holy Indifference, and Passionate Love for God and Neighbors, all at once?
Lara found a little bird this week, so they will raise it until it can fly away.
The remnants of FIFA 2022.
Every day at dusk, Venus and Jupiter appear brightly on the horizon.
I have a free app on my phone called Sky Guide. Wherever I point it, the app identifies the stars, planets, and constellations.
Douglas came over to practice speaking English with Deanna. English speakers are rare in Marabá.
Every day I get to look at a new bird on my Christmas calendar and wonder how God created it. Razor-billed penguins. Are they aware of how cool they look? Does each bird long to identify with its flock, or do they also want to be known as individuals within their group? “A new calendar bird every day. Chicken soup. Cheese toast. Pink salt. Life doesn’t get any better than this!”
I remember Mom saying at mealtimes, “Life doesn’t get any better than this.” We would often push back, “No, I think it will be better when I have a new bike, or when dad comes home from up North, or when I finish school, or … on and on.” Mom would look at us over the food and say, “No, This, right now, is as good as it gets. Watch and see.” The secret to the best life is the freedom to fully enjoy every present moment.
Sometimes things happen in our lives that are beyond our control. We are no longer in our comfortable place, and we think we are heading to a much better place, but we are not there yet either.
A Liminal Space is when you are no longer where you used to be, but neither have you arrived.
The Liminal Space is Not What You Expected
When the Israelites headed out for the Promised Land, they were no longer in Egypt, but nor had they arrived. They were in a liminal space. When things got harsh, fond memories of the safety of their slavery years bubbled to the surface. When they sent in 12 of their most adventurous to see the reality of the great dream God had given them, 83% (10 of the 12) of them shrank back in fear. The journey to God’s best place for you can be scary, and the path there can look and feel much different than you expected.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul (Heb. 10:35-39).
Maybe God has given you a dream of a better future, and then everything gets a lot worse, but you still feel you are tracking with God. Every morning I review one month of my old journal entries in sequence. Yesterday I reviewed what I sensed God saying to me in July 2016. Today I reviewed June. Tomorrow I’ll review May. Etc. Since March 2013, I have been noting current-month observations and reviewing my historical journey notes. Here is my review from this morning.
June 24, 2016 – I feel stalled, like I am not moving forward. My personal vision feels vague like it’s on autopilot. I sensed a Word from God this morning. “My plans for you are Big. Big Plans. Lots of stuff will happen soon. In the meantime, enjoy this season. Life is richer if you enjoy the seasons. This is like a winter season or a fallow time, necessary for a fruitful life. It is a gift to you.”
I don’t know how many times, even in this year, 2023, and throughout the last ten years, I have heard these words from God. Frequently people who do not know one another or my specific situation come up to me and say, “God told me that you are on the verge of something huge.” I write these reminders down in my journal because they are like GPS markers. They keep me on track.
In one sense, the liminal-space journey is God’s destination for you at this time.
Secret Places to Meet God
The Garden of Eden was the perfect oasis where God enjoyed creation. Outside the garden were four rivers filled with “good gold” and other jewels, but the way back into God’s Perfect Garden was open . . . until people decided they wanted to become judges of good and evil. Then God blocked the access back into His Perfect Place with cherubim and flaming swords (Gen. 2:24). In Exodus, in the liminal place, God designed a way to meet with people. He instructed Moses to put reminders of the cherubim guards on the curtains to His presence (Ex. 25-26). Inside the Holy place were many symbols of the Garden of Eden, like almond blossoms, flowers, and branches (Ex. 25:31-40).
Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman (Ex. 26:1).
The Holy of Holies was a cube.
The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height, and he overlaid it with pure gold (1 Kings 6:20).
The Heavenly City is Also a Cube!
The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal (Rev. 21:16).
The heavenly city is like a huge Holy of Holies, where God lives with people.
Jesus’ sacrifice opened the way back into God’s Garden. The curtain with the cherubim guardians was ripped open. Free access! We can re-enter the secret place where God rules if we come on His terms.
For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind . . . But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel (NASB, Heb. 12:18-24).
How to Thrive in the Liminal Space
And they overcame him because of (1) the blood of the Lamb and because of (2) the word of their testimony, and (3) they did not love their life even when faced with death (Rev. 12:11).
1. We Prioritize Quality Time With God in the Secret Place
We spend time with God in a spiritual garden, city, mountaintop, or secret place. We get filled with God’s presence, so we can embrace a chaos world in search of the “good gold” (Gen. 2).
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7a).
2. We Share our Stories
We present ourselves to those around us as spiritual people by sharing our stories.
A friend from South Africa shared the above quote on Facebook. I smiled all week at the idea. The opposite is also true. Social media is a place where we can share our stories. I like Mailchimp, but there are many platforms.
Twelve years ago, I told a mentor, “I think I will start a weekly newsletter.” That week I wrote my first Mailchimp. The next week I wrote another one. Today I wrote my 638th Mailchimp. Meditating on and then recounting my experience with God’s activity became a source of strength and encouragement to me.
Lessons Learned:
It is scary to write our testimony and send it out because we do not know how it will be received. In our desire to encourage some, we position ourselves as targets to be judged.
It is exhilarating, like getting out of the bleachers and into the game.
Writing doesn’t replace telling our stories personally, but there is an element of thoughtfulness in the writing process that helps us understand what we believe.
Our testimonies help our friends, and they help us.
Seth Godin wrote a book called Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us (2008). The premise is that we are all part of a system of our people. We need each other. Your people are waiting for you to speak up and show them the way forward. How does Christianity work for you? What if we had no stories of the Israelite’s progress through liminal space to the Promised Land? How many millions of people have been helped by the honest recollection of God’s faithfulness through their transition from slaves to landowners?
When we retell our stories, they become part of our identity. We own the victories. If we do not tell our stories, we risk losing them as they fade away.
Do not complain to people. It might be a way to bind your anxiety, but God thinks complaining to people is a bad idea and will not improve your situation (Phil. 2:14-15). Transparently working on your issues with God or a trusted mentor is helpful. Once you are through your challenge, share your victory in a way that gives glory to God.
If you wonder whether or not you should tell a story that includes another person, do not share it. Let the doubt be a warning.
Moses wished everyone would prophecy (Num. 11:29). Paul wished everyone would speak in tongues privately and prophecy in church (1 Cor. 14:5). I wish everyone would share a God-honoring weekly story and photo with their tribe. One nice thing about social media is that we can take our tribe with us, even if we move to another country, church, or job. Rather than trading one tribe for another, we keep expanding our tribe.
3. We are as Completely Abandoned to the Journey as Peter Was When He Stepped Out of the Boat
We commit to complete abandonment to follow Jesus.
We learn to like manna and quail more than leeks and onions.
We listen to God and luxuriate in following Him, even when everything feels wrong and scary.
We lean into risks of faith, experiencing seasons of abundance instead of self-reliant poverty.
We do not quit because something is impossible. We often do not see how it can work out, but we keep our eyes on Jesus and courageously take the next step.
In 2019 our daughter Emma carved and woodburned this masterpiece into a large piece of wood and gave it to Deanna for her birthday.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
—Theodore Roosevelt Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
