So, with a strategically placed thumb we were able to hold back quite a bit of water. It did not keep it from coming into the house, but it did prevent it from shooting out into the middle of the floor.
The good thing about this last storm is that I found where the problem is in order to try and seal it up. When the storm hit in the middle of the night, I was not awake enough to figure out what needed to be fixed.
Spiritually speaking, we are in a dry season here in Brazil. Yes, we get a few drops here and there, but we are looking for the rain. All over Brazil, in the large cities and in the remote scattered places, the story is the same.
It is amazing to me that we live in such a remote place, but at the same time, we have so many modern conveniences. We have indoor plumbing, electricity, high-speed internet, cars, microwaves, online shopping, and much more. Yet, at the same time, within just a few minutes I could take you to places that have absolutely none of these modern conveniences. There are places near here that you could not get to in a car during the rainy season. They have no internet. They still use they use outhouses and may or may not have electricity.
Yet in all of this, God is to be praised! It is by His grace that any of us lives another day. With or without the modern conveniences of the hour, our Lord is the one who holds the world in His hands. We will either see His hand working around us, or we will face this world on our own and get frustrated, confused, and materialistic about it all.
My heart breaks when I stop to ponder the reality of our situation today. In this day and age when we have the most modern conveniences of any period of time in history, there are more people out there who have never heard a clear presentation of the Gospel than ever before.
Truth is, the statistics are even more warped by the fact that religion obscures the Gospel. You can be a part of an evangelical “Christian” church for many many years and never hear the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Many statistics now reflect Brazil as a Christian nation. Just because it is a very religious country, the second largest missionary sending country in the world, most everyone you meet seems calls themselves a “believer”, and a good part of the population holds a copy of God’s Word in their hands, does not mean that they have heard a clear presentation of the Gospel.
“Christianity” and religion have become some of the largest hindrances to the Gospel here in Brazil. In almost every city in Brazil, we are not winning the “heathen” to Christ. We are simply reaching out to nominal Christians who have never been saved. They use the same Bible we do, they use the same language we do, and some even have higher standards of dress than we do. Yet, they do not know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
The good news in all of this is the Gospel!!!! God’s Word is able to divide asunder between soul and spirit. It can also discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Bringing this back to the story related above, we are praying for rain!!! I personally am praying for revival in Brazil. It seems as though we are in a dry season where many are discouraged about serving the Lord and few are true disciples of Jesus Christ. Yet, if we are still serving and believing in the God of the Bible, then we have hope that the drought will end and the rainy season is on the way!
Please join us in praying that souls would be saved, that people would be baptized, but don’t stop praying for true disciples of Jesus Christ. Pray for truth to be spread and false religions to be revealed.
Pray for us as we seek to reach people here in this part of Brazil with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
— Jeremy
