I was reminded of this as I read Luke 5 today:

1-3 Once when he was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, the crowd was pushing in on him to better hear the Word of God. He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. He climbed into the boat that was Simon’s and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd.

4 When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, “Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch.”

5-7 Simon said, “Master, we’ve been fishing hard all night and haven’t caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I’ll let out the nets.” It was no sooner said than done—a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch.
- Luke 5:1-7 (MSG)

Did you see that? Jesus says “hey drop your nets here” and Peter, gently reminds him that they had spent the entire night fishing without even catching a minnow and then reluctantly says “but if you say so” as he drops the nets. The next part is the best. “It was no sooner said than done.” Boom. Fish out the wazoo.

So to this I say thank you Peter for going before all of us “short-sighted” followers and giving us hope that God will still choose to use us even when we doubt and question his authority. You “rock” (pun intended).

Over the last 3 months God’s provision has been shown to us in ways I never imagined.

Bekah and I have dreaded telling them that we were moving to Nicaragua but we mustered up the courage last week. It went really well and we left very encouraged – but at the same time our hearts hurt.

We have prayed for God to lead a group of people to us that would take over and love the people there more than we do. He has done that by showing and the best part is that it will be our small group of friends from our church!

I have been doing some work for a client that is trading store credit with us for my services. This has been great because this client just happens to be the best little coffee shop in Birmingham! Today Bekah was on her way to meet me at my office and a guy asked her for some money. We make it a practice not to just hand out money (nor do we ever actually HAVE money) so she refused. Half-way up the next block God would not let her just walk away. She walked back down and offered him lunch with us (surprisingly not the first time she has shown up with someone and said ‘I have someone that needs some food’).

What ensued was one of the best conversations I have had. We talked about our pasts, our beliefs and our dreams – all over some tea and paninis.

I may not have any silver or gold, but I do have credit at Lucy’s Coffee and Tea!

Through this God reunited me with several staff members from the recovery center – and we had the opportunity to sit and share our recent successes and failures with each other. It was amazing. It reminded of the wonderful memories I have of my early walk with Jesus and the contagious joy that I experienced while I was there. Today I am very grateful for my broken past.

If you read this blog – please pray for the young man that entered the recovery center a couple of weeks ago. Pray that he feels God’s love and acceptance and finds his true identity in Christ.

- The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Each center has an assistant director. The assistant director at the center we visited graduated the program only a few weeks prior to obtaining his new position. I hope I am painting a clear picture of how “in need” these centers are.

I guess I should start with a brief rundown of what lead me to this men’s recovery center in Granada, Nicaragua. We began our journey by hearing a call to “Go”. We were not sure where this “Go” was leading us. What we did know is that we were going.

Through a series of events we came in contact with the Kayes. They are Adventures missionaries in Granada. It wasn’t long after that we were boarding a plane to visit them for a week. We did not know much about the work they were doing in Granada but we did know that they worked with men that were in recovery.

As many of you may or may not know, I spent many years of my life addicted to drugs and alcohol. In 2004 I entered a recovery center and 12 months later I graduated the program. It was a Christ-centered program and through the men and women there I was introduced to a Jesus that loved me the way I was. A Jesus that tenderly picked me up and showed me what I worth in His eyes. I always felt that God rescued me to help others recover from addictions and learn who they are in Christ.

Now back to Hogar Crea. Crea is not only understaffed but while we were there someone in the program found out where the director kept what little money they did have and took it. With no back-up funds, no governement assistance – these men where left with no food. None. Recovering from all sorts of issues (drugs and alcohol are almost always a way of self-medicating a much bigger issue) with no food. I can’t imagine what that feels like.

Thanks to everyone who  supported us on this trip – we had the incredible opportunity (mostly due to the fact that the Kayes insisted on not letting us pay for any of our food while we were there) to buy basic staples to feed the men for about a month.

[ If you look real close you can see a big smile from the only gringo in the picture ]

Today I long to be back in Granada.