My wife means the world to me.  God has given her to me and has blessed both of us with a very precious daughter.  Without her I would not be who I am today.  She is my biggest fan and supporter.  She is the love of my life.

She is the best mother in the whole world.  No way could I ever do what she does on a daily basis.  So today I want to honor her, celebrate her life, and tell her that I LOVE HER with all that I am.

So much is going on right now.  We are about to move into our brand new Children’s building at church, plans to theme it out are coming along great, and Children’s Worship starts back soon.  Our new Kidz Club program on Wednesday nights is under way, and before to long we will have our Area Wide Crusade and Death’s Door presentation.  Throw in that I have several speaking engagements and the next three months are going to be about as crazy as the summer.

The biggest thing that I must guard against is falling into the trap of doing things for God and not being who God called me to be.  God is not impressed with how busy we can be for him. God wants our lives. He wants us. Please know there is a big difference from being busy with the things of God and giving him everything that you are.  May we take time to step back and examine our lives.

Carragin will be 2 years old in two weeks. Wow, time really does fly.  More on this in the days to come.

Football season starts tonight (high school) and college football starts in two weeks. Throw in the fact that my Tampa Bay Rays and Atlanta Braves are both in the race to win their Division, and we got a lot  going on in the sports world. Again, more on this later.

Finally, I am hoping to get back in the grove when it comes to blogging.  Hopefully the next time you hear from me will be in a few days and not a few months. Until then………..

As promised I will begin recapping my trip to Costa Rica. I want to be as transparent as I can.

Lessons Learned

1. The gospel is for all people.  Sure I have heard this all my life, but did I really believe it like I should. Did I really live this out in my life every day.  To many times I was so spiritually arrogant that I kept the gospel to myself, or I would only present it to those who looked like just like me.  This trip taught me that the Gospel is for everyone.

2. We must have a heart for the nations.  I used to sit through missions week at college and hear the missionaries speak and think to myself “that’s good for you, but that is just not me.” Shame on me.  We get so comfortable that the thought of doing something that would make us uncomfortable scares us and causes us to live in disobedience.  I used to hate for people to come in and tell me I needed to go on a mission trip or do something with missions.  The fact is the truth hurts.  The reason I got mad was because they were right.  I needed to get out of the pew and start doing something for Jesus.

3. Loving Jesus is not about going to church and doing Christian things. Somehow we have this mindset that if I do my spiritual duties each day that makes me right with God. Loving Jesus is about loving others.  Ever tried to love someone who doesn’t look like you, smell like you, or even speak the same language as you. Going into the trip, I did not know what to expect.  Then God put a love for the people in my heart.  I have that love for the people of SC and the USA, now God has given me a love for the nations.

4. I really love American food. I am baptist so you know I have to talk about the food.  The food there was great, however there is only so many times that you can eat rice and beans.  One of the best things that I had was a steak that had bacon and cheese on it.  The food often had a good flavor to it, but it just wasn’t like home southern cooking if you know what I mean.  If you know me at all you know how picky of an eater I am, however I did try everything that was put before me.  Now that is progress.

5. Flying in an airplane will improve your prayer life.  I had never flown before so you can imagine how anxious I might have been.  As a matter of fact I really don’t want to talk anymore about it.  Just know that flying will help your prayer life.

I have more lessons that I learned that I will share in the days to come.

Thanks for all your prayers and support, may God continued to be glorified both here and in the nations.

We got on the bus around 6:30am and headed to the Pozo Azul park some 2 hours away.  What we did not know is that 1 hour of that would be straight through the rain forest on the most dangerous road in Costa Rica.  Add on top of that it was rainy and they often have mud slides. Just wait that is not even half of it.

Once we got to the park we suited up and headed out for a zip lining adventure like no other.  We zip lined our way through the rain forest and then finally over the huge river to the end.  Hopefully I will have the pictures up on Facebook tonight for you to see.  After a quick change and 10 break we headed down to the river for our white water rafting trip.  I have been white water rafting many times, but this was by far the best.  All I could think about was how much my father-in-law and brother-in-law would like it.  The river was at a class 3 today and the rapids were incredible.  The best part was that nobody feel completely out of the boat.  However, Brian and myself did end up on the bottom of the raft a time or two.  We then headed back to the home park where we ate lunch.

We stopped at a local souvenir shop to pick up some things before making the 2 hour drive back to the hotel.  Weary and tired I was sleeping when Brian thought it was a good idea to wake me.  Why? Well it may have been that you could not see anything in front or to the side of you due to all the fog.  So, here we are, on a tour bus, on the most dangerous road in Costa Rica, and we cant see anything.  I fastened my seat belt and began to pray. And pray. And Pray.  Once we finally made it down the mountain another thing came to mind that I had been thinking all along.  The stop (alto) signs down here are just suggestions. 

We leave out tomorrow with mixed feelings.  Our hearts break for the people of Costa Rica and especially the city of Cot, however we are all ready to get back to the states and see our families.  As I said yesterday, I will be doing a series of stories next week on the things I learned as well as the children that we were able to meet.

Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support.  We are truly grateful to our Big and Mighty God for his abundant mercy and grace.  Please pray for our flight home tomorrow and for the services this Sunday.  May we never forget the price that Jesus paid that we may have eternal life.

AM- We had breakfast downstairs and I broke away from the pancakes and had a traditional Costa Rica breakfast. Eggs with bacon and rice and beans. After we ate we headed to the orphanage to take 17 children to the park (Keith stayed back to have a meeting with the local pastors).  Ever tried to get 17 Costa Rica children to listen to you? It truly was a blast.

At the park we gave everybody a kite to fly. Again, ever tried to explain to 17 Costa Rica children how to fly a kite? After we got all the kites working, it was on. Kites were going everywhere.  It took all of 30 seconds for them to tangle them up. However, I have never seen so much joy out of children flying kites. It was truly a blast. Then came the fun part, lunch. We bought them Pizza Hut pizza and they loved it.  It was like opening up a buffet of steaks.  They ate every bit of it, of course we helped out a little bit too.

Then came the blessing. Faith was able to talk to two 16 year old boys and they gave their lives to Jesus Christ.  Praise the Lord. It was truly amazing.  She was able to give both of them our witnessing bracelets and prayed over them.

PM- We took the children back to the orphanage around 2 o’clock and they all headed to the TV to watch Tom and Jerry. After eating once again we headed to downtown Cartago where we were able to buy some much needed supplies for Pastor Francisco.  To see his face light up when we presented him a new pair of shoes was priceless.  He told us later on the bus that he had prayed that God would provide him with a new pair of shoes just last week.  What a thrill it was to help out of Man of God doing God’s work.  God also worked through us to provide some other needs that he had.  This will allow him to do ministry better without having to worry about some things. After dinner we went and got some ice cream before heading back to the hotel. Mrs. Faith lead us in a great devotion. 

Please pray for our team tomorrow as we go door to door witnessing and prayer walking. The city of Cot is very dark spiritually and we are praying that God will do something special.

You can find pictures of our trip on Facebook.   you can go here and add me as a friend http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?ref=profile&id=535460693

Francisco is not only the Pastor of the church but also the worship leader.  He picked up his guitar, and we sang, and we sang, and we sang.  I wish everyone of you could be there to listen to this.  We truly worshiped God today. The song books were in both Spanish and English.  As they sang in Spanish we sang in English, and God understood it all.  My favorite song that we sang today was “At the Cross.” The Spirit just sat down on us and it was a true blessing. Oh, did I mention it was about 80 degrees with no air condition.

After singing we partook in the Lord’s Supper, and then we sang some more.  I preached the message for the morning and boy was it a blessing.  I preached a simple message on prayer and the people seemed to enjoy it.  After the message we had a time of prayer and then we ate.  I meet a new friend named Andres, who was a 22 year old at the local college.  Andres told me that he really enjoyed the message and would use it daily. 

After lunch we headed up to the volcano.  A 45 minute trip up the mountain with great views.  We saw everything along the way.  From cows on the side of the road, to people ridding their bikes up this mountain, to people selling things out of the back of their cars.  The volcano and the views were wonderful.

Back down the mountain we went by to meet Oscar, another local pastor.  After he told us his story he showed us around the house that he built out of his own two hands.  Oscar is a wood-maker by trade and his work is incredible.  We each bought something from him.  We left Oscar’s and came back to the hotel where Francisco told us his testimony.  Wow, from an orphan, to a robber, to a pastor, God has done some cool things in his life.

Not sure what Day 4 holds but the team and I are excited about it.  Please continue to pray. Thanks.

AM- slept better last night, and the day began with a word from the Lord.  I added bacon to my pancakes this morning and it was wonderful.  Today I went to the Library with Keith, Brian, and Adam.  We spent much of the morning going here and there trying to get the supplies that we needed.  While we were waiting for the windows to be cut we walked around to the many merchants set up on the side of the street. It looked similar to our Flea Market.  We then headed up the mountain to the Library.  I worked on the computers to get them running faster.  The other guys put the new windows in and fixed the tiles in the celing.

PM- We headed down to the orphanage for lunch which was awesome. Mrs. Melba and some of the children made us a nice meal filled with bbq chicken and rice.  My new little friend Anita (pictures on FB) sat on my lap for about 35 minutes as she played with my sunglasses.  After luch we went back to the Library to finish up.  Now they are knocking on my door for supper time.

God has a heart for the nations and so should we. I have learned so much while here and look forward to what God is going to teach me in the days to come.  Please continue to pray for our team and especially for the service tomorrow.  I will be bringing a message about the POWER OF PRAYER!! Also, please pray for my mom and family as her mother, my grandmother, went home to be with Jesus today.

AM- the sun was starting to come up at 5:30am combined with the hotel being right by a highway the day began kinda early.  We had breakfest downstairs and as most of the team had a traditional Costa Rica breakfest, I had pancakes with fruit punch to drink.  After breakfest, our driver and guide for the week shared his testimony with us and it was powerful.  I will be blogging about it in the days to come (going to leave this blog as an update). 

We then departed to the orphanage where we meet Melba and Victor and their 35 kids, thats right 35.  Their are way to may stories to share as to the impact that these children have alread made on us.  After deciding what we needed in supplies we headed off to a Wal-Mart and Lowes type of stores. After a quick bite at McDonalds we headed back to the orphanage for a afternoon of fun.  I was reminded that I aint as young as I used to be as I played soccer for about 45 minutes.

PM- we went to the Library where we will be attending church on Sunday. Francisco the Pastor was with us all day and showed us things that needed to be fixed there.  We will be going there tomorrow to fix some things as well as I will be working on their computers that need fixing.  Then came the shocker.  I was ask to preach on Sunday.  I am so looking forward to this as God has been breathing a message in me all day.  Please pray hard though as I have never used a translator.

I am privileged to be here with a great group of people who have a desire and passion for God to use them in any way possible. I am going to try and post pictures to my facebook page sometime later tonight, if you are not my friend on facebook just send me a request.

Please pray that God would give each of us extra strength, pray for the orphanage and the children there, and pray for the church services on Sunday.

1. Excitement- NASCAR Fans, College Football fans, WWE fans (even though fake, can be fun to watch), 50% of sales at the local mall

2. Romance- Some would say that Passion is romance or a hot TV scene, or a crush that you had on Tiffany Amber Thiessen when you were younger.

Those are accurate in describing a form of passion, however, the true meaning comes from the Greek word Pathos.  This word means to endure with great suffering or pain.  That’s why the cross is often referred to as The Passion of the Christ.

With this in mind I think about several differnt Bible stories where people had great passion.

First it was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendago.  When brought before the king they were told to do something contrary to their beliefs.  They knew what the result would be if they did not do what they were told.  Yet, they had great passion for God.  They were willing to endure great suffering and pain for God.  They had no clue that God would deliver them from the fire.  All they knew was that God had been faithful to them (read Daniel chapter 1), and they were going to be faithful to God even if that meant enduring great suffering and pain.

They did not Bow to the things of the world.  They knew what the Scriptures said.  When we get to the point where we truly have passion for Jesus we will not bow down to the things of this world.

The did not Bend in their beliefs.  It would have been really easy for these three to compromise what they believed in.  Sure everyone else was doing it, but not these three.  How many times in our lives do we compromise what we believe just to go along with everyone else.  It is time for us to have great passion for Jesus and stand for what we believe even if that means we suffer and have pain.

These 3 boys knew they were headed for great pain and suffering. Yet, they still had great passion for their God.  Where is your passion today.  Will you decide to have great passion for your Savior.  If so get ready, and remember though you may suffer and have great pain, God said he would never leave you nor forsake you.  Then one day we will hear those words “well done my good and faithful servant.”