I exhort you and beseech you in the compassion of Christ, faint not, weary not. There is a great necessity of heaven; you must have it. Think it not easy; for it is a steep ascent to eternal glory; many are lying dead by the way, that were slain with security.

- Samuel Rutherford

Last week in Solo Por Hoy, we started to walk through the book of James verse by verse. I have felt the need to do this in my personal life for some time and thought it might also be helpful for some of the guys as well. As I prepared for this weeks’ lesson, I stopped after reading the first verse of chapter 1 where James mentions being a servant to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Image source]

I decided to dig into that a bit further today and this is the lesson that I will be sharing tonight:

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (James 1:1)

A servant is defined as a person who is working in the service of another. In another version (NASB) it uses the term “bondservant”. A bondservant is someone who is bound to another as a servant. It is a picture of the servants’ close ties with his master. He belongs to him. He is obligated to him and he wants to do his will. The will of the bondservant is consumed by the will of the master. A bondservant willingly devotes himself to his master. This is not a forced relationship. It was often a choice or an agreement.

Here in the first sentence of James’ letter we see him defining who he is. He is stating his status and that is that he is a servant or a bondservant of God. He is saying that he has fully surrendered to God and to his will. James understood that as a person who has been redeemed his life was no longer his own.

“…for you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20)

“You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” (1 Corinthians 7:23)

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for w many.” (Mark 10:45)

In Mark, we see James and Paul’s motivation for writing these verses. The one they followed – the one they were bondservants to – is stating that he came to serve, not to be served. James is saying that he is the property of his Lord, Jesus Christ – the one who when he was on earth was his half-brother. He doesn’t even mention this fact in the introduction of his letter. This dedication was important to James – more important than status or the opinions of others. If I was writing this letter I would have no doubt mentioned the fact that Jesus – the savior of the world, the son of God himself – was my half-brother.

Another reason James mentions this word – servant or bondservant – is to make the connection between his life before and after Christ. Before Christ, he was a slave to sin. But Christ reached into his life and rescued him from death and separation from God so now he had dedicated his life to Christ.

We are all servants to someone or something even if we don’t realize it. That someone or something either brings us life or brings us death. If we are not a servant to one, then we are a servant to the other. The questions James is presenting his readers are the same questions being presented to us – what are you a servant of and does this master bring you life or does it bring you death?

It is incredibly sad to see first hand the way that crack has destroyed the lives of so many people here in Granada Nicaragua. Life after life has walked through the doors at the mission base seeking help with their addiction to this substance. Stealing from family members, robbing people in the streets, beating and sometimes killing some in order to get their hands on more. Staying clean for weeks or even months only to slip, fall and then disappear. The cycle repeats. Over and over. It’s hard to make sense of it. It’s overwhelming and sobering for me at the same time.

[image found here]

Part of my job here is to teach the guys that their identity is not in their addiction, their identity is in Christ (I am in the process of learning this as well). We are not addicts – we are Christ-followers. Some of us may still struggle but that struggle no longer defines us, Christ defines us. Though often times we run back to our addictions, this does not mean that we have not been set free from our addictions. When this happens it is more of an identity issue than it is an addiction issue.

In the 9 months I’ve been here, I have seen God remove the false selves of several guys (including myself) and I’ve seen a couple of those guys pick them up again. But when this happens, it does not mean that everything they did was a waste. Putting on the new self is a discipline that comes with practice.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. [Colossians 3:9-10]

…to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. [Ephesians 4:21-24]

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I thought it would be a good idea to share with you from time to time the readings and teachings that we use for Solo Por Hoy. Our readings been adapted from the Narcotics Anonymous website (and altered slightly). If you find the material interesting and/or if you are leading a group that is recovery focused, feel free to download and print the lessons and readings to use.

“How It Works” or “Cómo Funciona” is what we read at the beginning of our meetings:

• Click here to view/download/print “How It Works” in English
• Click here to view/download/print “Cómo Funciona” in Spanish

“Just For Today” or “Sólo Por Hoy” is what we read at the end of our meetings:

• Click here to view/download/print “Just For Today” in English
• Click here to view/download/print “SóloPor Hoy” in Spanish

Natalia lives in Granada Nicaragua. She is a mother of two with an amazing heart and she wants to start a sewing business that employs women that are coming out of prostitution. With the average salary of $20-40 per week, its impossible for her to save the money needed to start the business. Loans from banks are very complicated and often the terms are hard to meet. We are attempting to raise money to help her start her business. If you would like to help, contact us.

Click here to learn more about Natalia and her story

It’s May 1st. Wow – our time here has gone by so fast and I find it hard to believe that we have only 5 more months here in Granada. We have enjoyed living here so much that its hard to even think about leaving at this point. From a more optimistic perspective, we have been here for 8 months and during this time we have really seen some ministries take off. One of these growing ministries is Solo Por Hoy. Shortly after arriving here, God led me to start a small group that ministers to addicts and alcoholics. The group functions like this:

Solo Por Hoy (Just For Today) is a group that ministers to addicts and alcoholics. The group teaches its members about freedom from life-controlling addictions through prayer, the power of the Holy Spirit and the support that comes from sharing struggles and victories within the group. Solo Por Hoy uses the 12 Steps of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and NA (Narcotics Anonymous) as a tool to help teach people how to become responsible members of society. Transformation is possible and we believe this happens one day at a time.

This ministry has grown its own legs and has its own momentum. At this point we are just holding on. What started as a weekly meeting at 8:30am Thursday mornings now involves two churches and meets 4 times a week (Mondays at 7pm, Tuesdays at 7pm, Thursdays at 8:30am and Saturdays at 8:00am). We have had several people tell us that because of SPH they now have something to look forward to and are excited about living a life free from addiction. It has been amazing to be a part of this and to see God working in the lives of so many here.

But this burst of growth has also brought with it the need to dig into our living expenses in order to fund coffee, pastries, paper copies, etc. for 3 of the 4 weekly meetings. We have plans to stay here until the end of September but our support runs out at the end of May. We have saved enough money to cover our living expense until then, but we could use help funding Solo Por Hoy for not only the rest of our time here but also after we leave. If you feel led to help out with this, here’s a breakdown of what’s involved and how you can help:

• Costs:
  • $8.00 per week – To fund coffee, pastries and photo copies for 3 meetings
• 4 ways you can give:
  • Through our AIM account by clicking here.
  • By mail by clicking here – and then clicking the “Donate by Mail” button
  • Giving through Paypal by sending money to frankburder [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Buying a plane ticket to Granada and giving directly to the ministry!

We are eternally grateful to all of you who have made this journey possible for us. We can’t thank you enough!

- Mucho Amor de Granada!

Meet Massiel. Her ex-husband is in jail because he used to abuse Massiel and her children. Massiel lives in a one-room shack made out of scrap wood and sheet metal in a small community on the outskirts of town with her four girls. The work Massiel has been able to find is minimal and she struggles to feed and clothe her children everyday. Despite all of this, I don’t think I’ve met a family that is filled with so much joy and hope in my entire life.

A fellow missionary here is currently helping Massiel with rice, beans and oatmeal each week to help alleviate some of the pressure from her. She is so appreciative of the small amount of food we bring her each week. Unfortunately, in two weeks the funding for this will be depleted. If you feel led to help Massiel out (anything you can give will go directly to this family) please contact us or email us at aheartforthenations [at] gmail [dot] com.

In two weeks, ten members of our group here are heading home. We’re so excited for them to leave. Most have plans for future travel (Haiti, Israel, England and Spain), and others start university, and a few more are still trying to figure out what they want to do in life. It’s going to be hard saying goodbye to these friends, but I know that the future is really shiny for these happy people.

In the meantime, we took a group trip up to Matagalpa and went crazy! We had a blast laughing and making inappropriate jokes. Talking about future plans. Drinking a lot of coffee and having one big trip together before they leave.

Tom, Trevor, Amber, Liana, Jessica and Garrett

Heather, Seth, Frank, Bekah

Abominable Snowman meets Abominable Frank

Wood sprites

I’ve typed and re-typed paragraphs about these kids. But I can’t quite put into words how I feel about them. They’ve have matured, and they have matured us. We learned what it means to have seven adult children. Our home is randomly used for internet, sleep overs, baking and chatting. From a person who misses her big loud family, this has been God’s way of giving me back that noise I sometimes crave.

Novas team, we’ll miss you and can’t wait to see you again.

A quick update on what’s been going on through my eyes:

When Bekah and got here we saw a need for deeper growth from within the body at El Puente (the mission base and church that we work with). From our experience with our faith family, our walk changed when we joined a small group. We grew deep in our relationships together and our spiritual growth. We began to serve our city together.

We expressed our desire to see the church at El Puente implement small groups (grupos pequeños) to the base leader and he thought it was a great idea. Last week we hosted a small group leader dinner at our house with the intention of telling people about small group leadership opportunities. 25 people came and we had some of the best shepherd’s pie in the world. It was a big success and the next day we had several people step up to lead a small group.

It’s been amazing to see this actually happen. It has now gained its own momentum. To see God working so clearly has been so refreshing and encouraging. Frankly, working with addicts and alcoholics 24/7 can wear you out (we’re a lot of work!) so to be involved with other ministries has been good for me.

We’ve also begun to really seek God and ask him about our future when our time here is up at the end of August. Please join us in praying for discernment and guidance from God.