Is it a passion or is it idolatry?

A wise person once said that an educator's job is not to offer all the answers, but to help their students ask better questions. Today, I'm asking you to help me ask better questions as I grapple with a difficult concept.

Is it a passion or is it idolatry?

I imagine most people have a passion for a few things in life – whether it be a fulfilling career, a particular talent, a worthy cause, or even a treasured collection. I also trust most of us believe that any passion, no matter how noble, needs boundaries so as to keep our intentions pure, our perspectives clear, and our relationships healthy.

Yet, we all know (or at least suspect) that someone we love has inadvertently crossed the line from passionate advocate to idolatrous proponent. But when, when does that happen? When does a passion become idolatry? How do we know when we've crossed the line? What questions can we ask ourselves to discern if a once healthy passion has now become a destructive idol?

Here are a few questions I've come up with today. I would like your help with discovering more.

Has our concern for our passion superseded our concern for the well-being of others? In other words, have we chosen to not love our neighbors as ourselves?

Do we assume our passion is “God-given,” but differing passions do not have the same seal of approval? In other words, are we tempted to use the Lord's name (in vain) to validate our position and invalidate others?

Has the expression of our passion encouraged productive conversation or do we express our opinions solely for the immediate gratification of “likes” and “Amens”? In other words, do we covet affirmation more than the truth?

Has advocacy for our passion tempted us to misrepresent the narrative or the character of another in order to discredit their point of view and undermine understanding? In other words, are we guilty of bearing false witness?

How would we respond if whatever we are passionate about was suddenly ripped from our grasp? Would life still hold meaning? In other words, does our hope rest in what we can hold and possess or does it rest in something less tangible and more eternal?

These are the questions I am wrestling with today. And probably will for many days to come. What about you? What better questions could you help me to ask?

What brings us together

Just over a week ago, Mexico's Independence Day brought a nation together to celebrate. Likewise, Stuart and I joined together with our friends and family at Teen Challenge Mexico (Reto a la Juventud) that Sunday afternoon to enjoy their festivities.

Lively songs, traditional dress, and wonderful food brought a smile to everyone's face.

Only a few days later, though, a tragedy brought the nation together once again. We watched firsthand as Mexico City rallied in unity, not in celebration, but in collaboration with local emergency personnel to rescue the trapped, give aid to the hurting, and comfort the distressed.

As clean-up, rescue and recovery efforts continue throughout our city, signs of hope and encouragement pop-up as well. The sign posted below replaces the building collapsed above. 

Neighbors give tribute to the lives lost and thanks to all who helped.

This past Sunday, our love and concern for everyone at Teen Challenge Mexico brought Stuart and I back to worship in unity with our friends and family: The Lord is in this place.

El Señor esta en este lugar. El Señor esta en este lugar. Para sanar, para curar, Para romper toda obra de maldad. Para sanar, para librar mi alma.

You Can Help!
The need is great in Mexico City, as well as Oaxaca, Chiapas and surrounding areas affected by the intense earthquakes that shook our cities. You can make a tangible difference by giving directly to our relief efforts here: Mexico Earthquake Relief fund   

The need is also great in our own Puerto Rico, recently devastated by Hurricane Maria. Let's all be as generous as we can today to help our fellow Americans: Hurricane Maria Response


Mexico City Missive ~ Special Report: After the earthquake

No easy journey

Every resident at Teen Challenge Mexico enters the program at different stages of recovery. Some while still reeling from the effects of withdrawal. Others after months of soul-searching. Regardless, Stuart and I watch and wait, pray and rejoice over every milestone reached, every hill conquered.

Theirs is no easy journey. Each graduate testifies of the struggle and the heartache that accompany the process of recovery. Indeed, for every life mended and every relationship restored all must acknowledge and grieve that which cannot be recovered or healed. Yet hope remains. Though consequences can never be ignored, in Christ lives can always be redeemed.

With this hope, day after day, week after week our front row guys persist. Because they know (and we know) Jesus can move mountains.

Cristo puede mover montes
¡Sólo Dios puede salvar,
mi Dios puede salvar!
Por siempre, autor de salvación
Jesús la muerte venció,
Él la muerte venció

If you or someone you love in Mexico has a problem with drug or alcohol abuse, click on the link below. ¿Problemas con el uso y abuso de las drogas y alcohol? Hay solución.

Reto a la Junventud México

What's mine to do?

In a recent blog post, Lynne Hybels spoke of her commitment to join Bread for the World and other Christian leaders in fasting and prayer on behalf of the world's most vulnerable on the 21^st of each month .

By example, Hybels encourages us to fast and pray for those experiencing physical hunger on a regular basis and for those whose decisions affect them. To pray for our own hearts to be broken more deeply for the vulnerable and marginalized. She also shares many other valid prayer points and concludes with the prayer, she says, “that has so often changed the trajectory of my life: God, what is mine to do?”

My discomfort today reminds me that too many in our world live most every day with hunger pangs. But my discomfort also provokes me to action. As it should. Because the kind of fasting the Lord expects is the kind that loosens the chains of injustice and shares food with the needy (Isaiah 58:6-9).

I know I can't do everything or be everywhere, but I can ask, O Lord, what's mine to do? Friends, let's join together to fervently fast and pray, and then let's decisively act on behalf of the hungry and the oppressed in our world today. 

Visit Bread for the World for ideas on how you can be involved.

Likewise, consider contacting local ministries in your area (like The Rescue Mission in Fort Wayne).

Wherever you are, feel free to share a link in the comment section (here or on Facebook) to a non-profit, a ministry, or even a missionary dedicated to ending hunger, poverty, and injustice.

Ríos de agua viva flow in Coyoacán

It only took about 20 minutes and a dozen twists and turns of the road to meet up with new friends as well as missionary colleagues at Centro Familiar Cristiano in Coyoacán.

Even through life's greatest challenges, Pastors Cristobal and Lourdes serve with grace and dignity as they extend the Lord's blessings to all.

Proud mom in the middle dedicated her daughter to the Lord at the beginning of service. Lead her well, hermana! Young Luna looks ready to take on the world.

The hermanas of the congregation served communion after the preaching. No meager thimble-sized containers allowed to represent the cup of the new covenant here :)

At lunch, Stuart made a new friend who wanted to learn some English and have a little fun.

Another new friend shares his pastor-parents joy and dedication to the Lord.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." John 7:37-38

En el último día, el más solemne de la fiesta, Jesús se puso de pie y exclamó: ¡Si alguno tiene sed, que venga a mí y beba! De aquel que cree en mí, como dice la Escritura, brotarán ríos de agua viva. Juan 7:37-38