Now You Know...

Overheard in our house today: 

The bark of the dogwood tree is 'ruff!'

CAMEX Conference 2010

This past week we celebrated attending 7 consecutive years of our mission's missionary conference here in Mexico.  As expected, we were blessed immensely by the fellowship with our co-workers.  The special speaker came all the way from Bristol, VA to lay out challenges to our walk with Christ from the life of Elijah.  Testimonies were shared by co-workers who have suffered, some at a very high cost. Other testimonies were shared of the marvelous grace and blessing that God has granted to them. Others shared of hurts and pains and weaknesses.

And all I can say is there is nothing in this world compared to serving Christ.  NOTHING.  I love my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart. 

That's my King!  Do you know Him?

Views From The Drive

We left this morning for our annual missionary conference in the state of Veracruz.  Best part of the drive is the view of the volcanoes.  We didn't think to snap some shots of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl which lie between Mexico City and Puebla.  Orizaba was spectacular today as well and we did get a few shots through the windshield.  Simply jaw-dropping beauty.  It was by far the clearest day we've ever experienced coming through the region.

Praise God for a safe 5 1/2 hour drive today.  The roads have some pretty rough sections but most of it was pretty good.  I thought a double-trailer was going to squash us on two different occasions but God kept us safe.  Looking forward to some great times of fellowship, prayer, and refreshment from God's Word.

An Article Every Parent, Grandparent, Teacher, Child/Youth Worker and YOU Should Read...(right now!...go ahead...read it!)

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Entertainment-soaked-culture-damages-kids--brains--here-s-the-antidote.html?soid=1101822648727&aid=N0aCp_9SoaE

From Jeff Myers: I've often been asked to weigh in on the effect of the entertainment culture--video games, Ipods, etc.--on kids. Here's what the latest research shows and what it means to parents, teachers and youth-serving professionals.
November16, 2010 Volume 11, Number 11
Greetings! Greetings! There's so much to share that I'm planning to write to you twice this week. Today's newsletter covers a monumental issue I've been thinking about for awhile now: how to reclaim today's young people from a media-saturated culture that leaves them confused, apathetic and even, in an all-too-real sense, brain-damaged. You're going to want to read this.   To follow up, I'll send another e-mail tomorrow announcing the release of a dramatic new product our team has been working on for more than a year: a mentor training and resource kit that makes it simple to engage teens and young adults life-on-life. Powerful recent research shows that life-on-life relationships not only contribute to significant spiritual growth - they can also produce a remarkable change in teens' level of academic resilience, motivation, engagement and pro-social behavior. More on this tomorrow. Make it a great week! Dr. Jeff Myers (Email) (Website) (Facebook) (Twitter) Entertainment-Soaked Culture Damages Kids' Brains; Here's the Antidote Jeff Myers, Ph.D. Over consumption of media among Christians is an enormous concern. According to a study I conducted in 2003, the average Christian young man is involved in 33.25 hours a week of "screen time" (watching movies, playing video games, surfing the internet). Girls averaged 27 hours a week - the difference being that boys play a lot more video games. That was seven years ago. Since then, the advent of Wii, smart phones, Blu-ray, and hyper-realistic video games have certainly only made the problem more acute. While all of these so-called advancements have been coming about, brain scientists have been busy doing some fascinating research of their own - studying the hi-tech culture's effect on the brain. And the conclusions are simply startling. How the Brain Works We only have to understand a few basic brain functions to grasp how our entertainment-soaked culture affects the brains of teens. Bear with me for a quick anatomy lesson. Take a look at this picture of the human brain. The frontal lobe, shaded in purple, is the executive center. This part of the brain lights up when you come up with a plan and execute on it. In the center, in red, is the nucleus accumbens - a collection of neurons that forms the brain's pleasure center. When a person experiences pleasure, this part of the brain displays stimulation. Here's what to keep in mind: the brain was designed in such a way that work and accomplishment stimulate the executive center of the brain (purple), which in turn stimulates the pleasure center of the brain (red). Work brings satisfaction, and the desire for life satisfaction motivates people to work. The Effect of an Entertainment-Soaked Culture on Kids So what does a culture like ours do to the brains of teens? In his book Boys Adrift Leonard Sax reported on a study of 7 to 14-year-old boys which found that playing video games lights up the pleasure center of the brain while simultaneously shutting off blood flow to the executive center of the brain. In effect, these games offered boys the sense that they had accomplished something without actually having done so.* Consider the shocking implications. The games children play are designed to bring effortless pleasure (movies and music have the same effect). Over time, this slickly produced entertainment "tricks" the brain into by-passing the executive center, making it more rewarding to pursue entertainment and less rewarding to accomplish anything of value. Academic work plummets. Social relationships suffer. And massive entertainment corporations make out like bandits, reaping billions in profits. Quite frankly, if you're a parent, teacher, or youth minster, this is horrible news. How could we have allowed the most privileged generation in history - in terms of spendable income, opportunity for education and travel, and access to information - to quietly amuse itself to death?** The Antidote is Not What You Would Expect If you're thinking, "Well, the damage is already done," here's some good news. There is a clear, simple way to rescue teens from the cultural addiction: engage them in conversation in the context of doing real things. Let's look at two aspects of this answer. 1. Do real things. A Christian school headmaster friend of mine was recently approached by several parents whose children had been prescribed medications for ADHD and bi-polar disorder. They trusted their doctors but wondered, "Is there any way we can help our kids without having to turn to these strong medications?" The headmaster wisely proposed the parents give the following plan a try: Take out TVs, Ipods, video game consoles, and computers from your kids' bedrooms. Allow no more than 30 minutes of video gaming per week. Set a bedtime of 9pm on weeknights, 10pm on weekends. Provide three nutritious meals a day (note that the headmaster had to define "nutritious" for the parents). Plan for one hour of playing outside every day, and three hours on the weekend days. Amazingly - after a few months of this regimen - all of the children showed far fewer symptoms and were doing significantly better in school (without medication!). For these kids, there was an undeniable connection between unplugging and thriving. In a similar vein, many parents are starting to take seriously studies done by Dina Borzekowski, Linda S. Pagani and others that demonstrate a correlation between a child's relatively innocuous television viewing and lower test scores. In fact, public health advocates have caught on and launched a "No Child Left Inside" initiative that appears to be gaining steam. A quick word of warning: An entertainment-soaked culture affects the brain in similar ways to a chemical addiction. So don't be surprised if heavily plugged-in kids express bitterness, anger, accusation and even paranoia when they get unplugged. Many parents will cave in to the pressure because they can't handle seeing their children be unhappy, even for a short time. A few parents, however, will find wise ways to replace screen time with real things and intentional conversation. In the long run, kids who overcome this withering addiction will be significantly better prepared to live healthy, purposeful lives. 2. Engage them in conversation. Language lights up the brain. And as David Caplan, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, points out: in order to trigger the use of language, both motivation (from the executive center) and arousal (from the pleasure center) are required. Language seems to be a bridge that reconnects the broken-down relationship between the executive and pleasure centers of the brain. Notice that this involves active language use, not just passive language reception. We're talking two-way, engaging, in-person conversations. And that puts the ball squarely in your court to communicate with kids in a way that engages them in communicating with you. Isn't it interesting that expressing thoughts through language helps remediate the damage done by a culture built on amusement? The ancient Greeks called this kind of linguistic expression "logos." It's the same word used in John 1:1 to describe the ministry of Jesus: "In the beginning was the Word." Reclaiming the Ancient Art of Life-on-Life Discipleship Jesus is the model for engaging people in conversation while doing real things. One scholar estimates that Jesus spent 13 months of his three year ministry just walking from place to place. All the while, he engaged others in conversation: Paul Stanley says that Jesus asked 288 questions in the gospels. "Come, follow me," Jesus said. They did. And along the way he equipped them to change the world, and they did that, too. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *See Leonard Sax, Boys Adrift. New York: Basic Book, 2007,p.91. **This phrase is drawn from Neil Postman's book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. I strongly recommend that you read it. Quick Links Passing the Baton International is all about reclaiming the ancient art of mentoring because it restores the life-on-life aspect of discipleship that gets lost in an entertainment-soaked culture. To walk with us, check out passingthebaton.org and the brand-new Cultivate Project.

A Little Humor - How to Plant a Church

There's always at least a grain of truth in real humor. Sad to say, I suspect this has some truth too.

9,765 miles down, 0 miles to go (i.e. we're HOME!)

I posted this on my Facebook on Saturday but haven't had time to catch up the blog with the fact that we did arrive home safely that evening.  We are so appreciative of the many who prayed with us for our safety on this trip.  It was one of the smoothest border return trips we've ever experienced.  While dangerous scenes dominated the news for nearby Matamoros with the Mexican Marines killing a cartel figure on Friday, our route was completely quiet.  The new bypass which was open some time ago and then closed a few months ago was now re-opened.  That was a huge blessing as we were able to avoid entering Reynosa which has been admittedly out of government control for many months now.

So, we're happy to be home and have been settling in the past two days.  There are lots of little things that keep popping up but we're knocking them out as quickly as we can.  I've already replaced one leaky bathroom faucet and almost fixed one toilet tank mechanism.  Have I ever mentioned that I really dislike plumbing jobs?  Well, so far so good, and for the most part water is on when it's supposed to be, off when it's supposed to be, and best of all...I didn't somehow manage to electrocute myself.  I'm telling you...homemade plumbing is a dangerous thing!  This house was sort of homemade by the owner, so you never know what you're getting into for what seems like simple repairs.  I'm not kidding!

A pounding on our front gate this evening helped us to discover that our front gate doorbell switch is shot.  I figure someone came by looking for us in the past few weeks, and with no one here, they probably thought we weren't hearing the doorbell or were ignoring it, so they must have kept hitting it until they broke it.  I can see how someone might think this would be effective in getting someone to show up at the gate.  So, at least it's not plumbing that I'll get to do tomorrow.  Oh great...I get to mess with electric wires!  Hope I don't somehow burst a pipe in the process.  I jest, but one never really knows just what might be connected to the wiring or the water system here.  It's simply a wonder of the world because I usually am left in wonder after seeing the pipes or the wires or whatever.

Looking forward to catching up with Jason and Kristin soon.  Kristin will be coming over in the morning.  We've sure missed sharing in their lives and helping them in their walk with the Lord.  Should be a good time tomorrow morning when she comes over...which by the way is not long from now so I'd better get this posted and get off to bed. 

Oh, and I had a couple of co-workers over tonight to sort of watch the Monday Night Football game.  We don't really watch the game that much.  We enjoyed some great conversation and a few laughs.  It was good to get together.  OK...that's all I'm going to share for tonight.

Except...for a photo I snapped on our drive through the mountains near Ciudad Victoria of an accident scene we passed.  A tractor trailer was sort of falling down the mountain side and half wedged near the roadway.  That was the only accident scene we saw on this trip (praise God for that).  Didn't look too bad as accidents tend to go on these highways. 

I sometimes wonder how some of these accidents could have happened if everyone would simply drive prudently.  I was saying something to that effect as we slowly passed by this scene with the flow of traffic at about 20 mph.  There were people standing around and cones in the roadway, etc.  Just then a little red car came flying down the mountain from behind me and flew right down the middle of the roadway at about 60 mph and passed the line of cars we were in while hurtling mostly down the oncoming lane.  Oh...that's how these things happen.  Now we know.  Argghhh!

Travel Update & Prayer Request

August 15th was a long time ago in our collective memories.  We began that day very early in the darkness as we tucked ourselves into the car for what we presumed would be a trip we would never forget.  That it has been.  Of course, of all the surprises which sprang up in our path, the biggest was the delay in our return back to the place we like to call home.

With joy and perhaps some apprehension we are just a short time from being joined by co-workers in a small caravan to accompany each other toward our respective homes and through the war zone which has intensified in violence and ferocity in the past few weeks and months.  As with anything in this world, we have no real guarantees of physical safety, even in the service of our Lord and King.  However, we do trust in His goodness and purpose for our lives whatever that may mean in these temporal days He has granted us on this earth.

We sure would appreciate your prayers for us as we travel and that God willing we would be able to return home on Saturday.  While we and our mission believe that the risk is relatively reasonable, we all know that only God knows exactly what the risks really are and that no matter what, there are no real risks in trusting Him to order our steps as we follow Him.

Thank-you and may God be glorified in all of our lives until that Day.