July 8, 2005

• I have been reading “Mere Christianity” during the soap opera/Portuguese by osmosis sessions. Most of it is things I already knew, just put in a nice, condensed manner that is much easier to share with others. But I came upon something I have always struggled/wondered about: how once you are saved you go to heaven…and it is the same heaven for the thief on the cross who cried out right before he died as the saint who gave his entire life in dedicated service to the Lord. Even that I can reconcile better than the attitude I see in some of my kids—“I am saved, so now nothing matters and I will party my youth away and get serious later.” Basically my best answer to them has been “Just you wait, God is gonna get you. He will not let you live your life like that—He will discipline you.” And then they walk away with a swagger that says, “Come and get it God.” And I stomp my foot with an ARRGGG! Because part of me wants to yell after them “It is not fair for you to go to heaven! With an attitude like that, you could not possibly be saved and are going to hell.” (Are you shocked with me yet? This is my honest feeling sometimes.) Of course you can tell these kids “oh, well, forget about your jewels and golden crown to throw at Christ’s feet” but what do they care?

  
  

   

  
  

  C.S. Lewis made the point that makes a lot of sense. Heaven is the same heaven for all, but only what has been sanctified and put through the fire will be able to enjoy it. It is like this: as today I make choices—to serve God or to serve myself—I am either stepping into a servant, Christ-like world of habits, or a selfish, evil world of habits. Each choice is a step in a direction. The more I choose Christ in those little things, the more habits are formed and Christ is formed in me. At judgment day, when all is stripped away, all that will remain is what Christ has made in me. The more of ME that it is, the more I will be able to enjoy this place He has prepared for me. Are you with me? For those who have only alittle surrendered to Christ, they will see the same heaven, but not be able to enjoy it in the way it was intended. How horrible! An illustration would be that the grass would be so true, so REAL in heaven that one not made for heaven would just pierce his foot through with it. This is the call to live for Heaven, thus affecting THIS DAY what you do. He says it better:

  
  

   

  
  

  “I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature…each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.”

  
  

   

  
  

  That is my message for todayJ. I found out yesterday that there are no washing machines here. Ricardo and Katia have a personal one, but that is it. I asked Edjane how she washed her clothes and she said the smaller things she washed in the sink, the larger she took outside and washed in a small tub. She has done this all her life. I guess everyone else here does it too. My word. As I explained to her that at home my mom does my laundry, I realized that I sounded like a very spoiled little girl. And that I am. And that I wrinkle up my nose every time I have to wash my underwear in the sink. I think I will still bring my clothes and wash them at Tele’s house (they have a dryer too—one of the few in the whole area!), but I am figuring out ways to conserve and hand wash some too. It will be good for me.

  
  

   

  
  

  Yesterday Ricardo dropped David and I off at downtown Carpina to do some shopping. David is so nice to follow me and hold the basket of things as I bombard him with “What the heck is this?” questions. We went up and down the isles, getting random things I thought it would be neat to try and cook. Then we took a break for “sorvete” (ice cream) and “pamonha” (this corn stuff served in the husk) and hopped the bus home. We felt very grown up.

  
  

   

  Gilson and Katia were cooking and took me under their wing to teach me how to make “Galinha Guisada” this kind of chicken that is INCREDIBLE. So they went step by step and David translated as we made it. I also had them go over how to make rice, beans, salsa, and bean soup. I figure if I can make these things well, I will die a happy woman. So I wrote down each step (in my own way) and tried to figure the basic measurements (as they don’t measure much) and time (they do it by sight). Super cool.  

  • 10:07 am
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