I was amazed when I saw these pictures and read the story of a newly discovered indigenous tribe on the Peru/Brazil border that has not been contacted by civilization.  Reports say that there are about 100 uncontacted tribes in the world and half of them are in the Brazil/Peru area. Silly me. I assume that Man has explored the entire world.

What a sight it must have been to see a low flying object zipping across the canopy of their land; the men aiming their weapons.

I went to church and left slightly disappointed and angry…not at the sermon…but about other things. After church I was crying and angry. So I went to Monte Sano to get away from things. I was reading my Bible…or at least trying to.

Fifteen minutes passed and I see a girl drive into lookout point where I was. She gets out her car and sits on the bench for a second or two then heads back into her car. I look at her and she looks in need. I felt the Lord trying to nudge me to talk to her. But I didn’t have enough guts until she got back in her car. She looked so sad.

It was about time for me to go.

I headed back to my car but made a slight detour toward hers. I knocked on her car window trying not to startle her as she just lay there contemplating. I gave the signal to roll down the window. She did. My first words were “Are you okay? My name is Heather. What’s wrong?”

I was touched by this story that I heard on NPR this morning. It’s about a guy, Julio Diaz, who was mugged by a teenager with a knife as he got off a subway in New York City. The events that happen afterwards were inspirational.

I recommend listening to the story instead of reading it. Click “Listen Now” near the top of the NPR page to hear Diaz tell the story:

NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89164759

Teaser:

Diaz replied, “Well, haven’t you been taught you should be nice to everybody?”

“Yea, but I didn’t think people actually behaved that way,” the teen said.

The office Christmas party. The neighborhood Christmas party. Your friends’ Christmas party. Your pseudo-friends’ Christmas party. What do you do? Go! Jesus would. Jesus did. He spent a lot of time with his neighbors, friends and acquaintances. The Jews loved to celebrate. If you have kids, budget the extra money for baby-sitters. If you do not have kids, book your calendars in advance.

Enjoy the conversations. Enjoy the food. Enjoy the drinks. But do not be bore, a glutton or a drunk. Partake of the gifts, but do not abuse them. Be especially careful to use discipline if you drink alcohol. Employees have been fired because of their drunken antics at Christmas parties. At best, you can lose respect or credibility by drinking too much.

Mark 12:27
“And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.”

According to this verse, if you do not vote on Tuesday God will not take you to heaven when Jesus comes back. Just kidding. Some folks rip Scripture out of its context. I thought I would try it too.

On a serious note, if you are reading this is the United States, you need to vote this Tuesday. Am I going to tell you how to vote? No. Seek Christ. Seek Scripture. Vote. Ten years from now you may recant, but vote today.

I’ll tell you what ticks me off. People that complain about conservatives or liberals, but take no part in our democratic process of elections. There are some married couples that do not vote because one votes democratic and one republican. The reasoning? “The end game is equal.” No, it’s not! You end up with two couch potatoes who think their inactivity is tantamount to patriotism. Give me a break.

Do you want to understand more about the culture we live in and how we can engage them with the Gospel? Read the following article by Tim Keller. I consider he, John Piper, Wayne Grudem and Mark Driscoll my adjunct, “living” Profs and mentors. Read it through 5-10x over this month and you will be better prepared to reach the diverse peoples of Metro Huntsville (or whatever city you live in). If this type of writing is new to you, endure it the first couple of times. After that, you will have some progressive “ah-ha” moments.

Tim Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. It is written from a PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) pastor to his denomination. He is a visionary leader for strategic, biblical church planting in downtown/metropolis areas. He embodies a “heart for the city” as we do for Metro Huntsville. Thanks to Doug Wever and John Thweatt for introducing me to Keller’s teachings. Here is a good link for Tim Keller resources: http://www.stevekmccoy.com/reformissionary/2005/07/tim_keller_arti.html. Get to know him.