Jesus Plus
Something? By Arielle Bagby
Today
we were doing our daily Bible reading. We were studying Acts 15.
There were some
Jewish guys (aka the Pharisees) who said to the Greek friends of Paul and
Barnabas, “If you want to be a Christian you
have to be circumcised and obey the laws
of Moses.”
Some of these laws say no eating pig or shrimp or lobster. So according
to these guys, Christians can't eat these things, but I like to eat hot dogs
and I am a Christian. I also like to eat shrimp which my mom makes really good.
So you know I can't resist it when it is in front of me.
The law talks about not
trimming beards. I don't have one but my dad trims his every morning-he shaves,
but sometimes not on Saturday. And another law is “no tattoos”. I don't have
one but a lot of Christians that I know do. One of my friends is even a tattoo
artist.
As I read it in the Bible,
being a Christian is just having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and
confessing he is Lord. That’s what it says in Romans 10:9-10. Of course once we
have the personal relationship, then we will want to do the things that make
him happy.
These Jewish guys in Acts
15 are trying to say to be a Christian is Jesus +
something else. It's like Jesus plus “no piercings”. Or Jesus plus “reading the Bible every day”.
I mean that's not the truth at all.
I have disobeyed those
laws many times but I always ask God to forgive my sins and I am still a part
of God’s family (aka a Christian). So the Pharisees added more rules about
being Christian than Jesus says in the Bible. I am so glad James and his
friends decided that we don't have to be Jews because I am part Japanese. I
love cheeseburgers, I love ribs, especially how my friend Tracy makes them. And
love shrimp- its the best. Arielle
Project Ezra Schools Open on the Coco River for the 25th Year!
Project Ezra begins its 25th year this week as classes open in
eight villages along the Rio Coco in Northeastern Nicaragua. This primary &
secondary project began in the spring of 1986 during the height of the
Sandinista War. Due to this conflict, thousands of Miskito refugee children had
been without education since the burning and destruction of their villages in
1980 & 1981. During those years, over 60,000 Miskitos were forced to leave
Nicaragua into neighboring Honduras, and many were surviving in refugee
villages along the Kruta River. It was a lean
time, with a high infant mortality rate, serious malnutrition, and
virtually no health care.
Enter a group of young
Americans who had a desire to help these desperate refugees. They met a Miskito
leader Truman Cunningham in November of 1984, and together they delivered over
35,000 lbs of relief supplies to countless Miskito refugees. It was in 1985
that they received a request from a refugee teacher, Augusto Vicente, to help
him begin a school. They supplied Augusto with notebooks and pencils that year,
and he and Sofia Borst began teaching classes in Sawa, on the Honduran side of
the Coco River. It was the following year, 1986, that Sharon and Earl Washburn
arrived from Maple Valley Washington to train teachers, and formally begin four
schools in refugee villages in Honduras.
That year, we met Victoria
Palacios, a professor of education at the Honduran National University in Tegucigalpa,
who was the author of “Coleccion Catrachitos”, a series of textbooks written
for Honduran school. Victoria
volunteered to travel to Miskitia and train our teachers, and sold us her
state-of –the –art textbook at her cost. With these resources, and financial
help from many in Hawaii, California, Washington, Florida, and other states,
Project Ezra took off, and expanded in 1987 to include students in 12 villages,
teaching grades First & Second.
For the next four years,
Project Ezra added a new grade, and more students. Finally we had the complete
primary school curriculum along with a Miskito Bible lesson series, written
especially for the Project Ezra students. Each year was a miracle in the
making, as we had very limited resources, and were attempting something very
difficult, in one of the most remote corners of the Western Hemisphere.
Yet, God had His plans and
purposes, and we felt like we were riding a truly adventurous wave, not sure
where exactly it was taking us. Each year, we were able to purchase school
supplies, pay teacher salaries, and eventually buy our own outboard motor and
dugout canoe. Along the way we were first given a single engine airplane
(1987), and finally a twin engine Piper Seneca (1990) that provided air service
for the project until the year 2000.
The Sandinista War ended
in the election of a new government in Nicaragua in the fall of 1990, and the
following year, we were asked by the new Nicaraguan minister of education to
cross the river into Nicaragua and become part of the official government
school system. They encouraged us to continue to teach the Bible, as they
recognized the value of Christian morality on civic life.
We still teach the Bible
every day, along with the Nicaraguan public school curriculum. Most of our 40
teachers are our former First Grade students who attended our schools in the
80’s and 90’s. It has been an amazing adventure, and in the process we have all
been changed. How?
1) The level
of education has improved dramatically according to official test scores of our
students;
2) Public
health has improved to meet Nicaraguan national standards according to infant
mortality rates and other statistics;
3) Pastors
and teachers are better trained, resulting in greater spiritual awareness as
well as ability to communicate lessons- this according to government
educational surveys of our teaching staff;
4) We on this
side have become more aware of God’s plans and purposes in our own lives, and
how we can play our part in God’s Big Plan for Humanity.
25 years of
Project Ezra has impacted thousands of Nicaraguans and many of us in America,
Europe, and Australia who have been involved in this project since its
inception.
We have
seen the Hand of God move. We have
played our parts. We have been encouraged in our own spiritual growth. We are
different because of this experience. And Blessed!
May God
continue to use us in the lives of these needy people. May He continue to pour out His Love through
us to these and all others that walk into our lives in this next year. Maik
Lamb
Bleatings By Laura Bagby
“For we are God’s
masterpiece. He has created us anew in
Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
Eph 2:10
It is a very good thing to
see people you love coming into a place where they are functioning in the
calling of God upon their lives. When
you observe them making an impact upon their world and their surroundings, there
is something that is moved within. I
find a fulfilled and contented life inspirational. People who know that they are loved and
accepted by God and have a huge sense of identification with Christ through
their life experiences….The good, the bad and the ugly. I am attracted to
people who view life through the eyes of Christ and live out His heart. It is good to find that in those surrounding
your life. Those relationships are
gratifying to the soul. Deep calls to
deep…living out relationships in the boundary of the Lord breeds so much freedom
and liberty which I am only now beginning to understand.
Security in God and His
love for me has led to a lot of freedom.
The more I identify with Him in me, the freer I become to express who He
is through my life.
It is good and right to
accept who God designed us to be and to function in a way that brings Him
pleasure. I desire so much to please Him
not because of who I am but because of who He is and all that he has done for
me. I am eternally grateful. My faults and failures are ever before me as
I go along on this journey of life. I
deeply understand what I have been saved from and to. I know well my own wretchedness and what I am
capable of in this fleshly body I possess.
Without God in me, I truly don’t know where I would be at this juncture
of life or whether I would even be here.
Truly, he has saved me from much and divinely protected me and guided me
when I needed it most even when I was not acknowledging His existence. There He was.
When I observe the wretched world around me, I have had the sensation of
feeling and thinking, “If He hadn’t come into my life, I would be right there.”
I have seen so much
hostility, self-hatred, and insecurities being displayed in the world around me
even among parents with their children.
A few days ago as we walked down the isle of a store, I observed a
family of three who appeared to resent the existence of one another. Mom was spewing out words of condemnation to
her daughter who looked unhappy and helpless while the father followed looking
detached and equally lifeless. I felt a
deep sense of sorrow come over me for them.
They appeared to be all very unhappy with who they were and where they
were at and equally unhappy with whom they were with. When you are not happy within yourself, it is
impossible to be happy with those around you.
Thus, many exist in misery
and discontentment.
I heard my children
discussing the shallow topic of “if you could choose which actor or actress
you could look like, who would it be?”
Moselle said while washing
the dishes,
“I would want to look
like….maybe…..Kate Hudson” (Goldie Hawn’s daughter, blue eyed,
blond hair)
“You would????!”, I hollered from the bedroom.
“Weeeellllll, maybe if she
had brown hair and looked a little more like me…….I’d maybe want
to look like her…..”
We cracked up laughing
letting her know that that would not be like looking like Kate Hudson, but…it
would look more like Moselle….
“Yea, I guess…….”, she admitted.
She does like being who
she is and admits it freely.
We also decided that the creation of
flowers are really good to have around for its same reminder of God’s detailed,
exquisite nature of creativity and abundance.
We are always looking for the deals on nice blooms….Mabel (Maik’s mom)
always used to say, “Buy me
flowers NOW and not when I’m in the grave.”
I thought that was an excellent word of
advice except I have taken it one step further.
I decided that I wouldn’t wait for someone to buy me flowers if I see
the deal….I just go right ahead and indulge myself and take the opportunity to
share it with someone else who might need a little day brightener or I will
tell my husband, “Hey, look what
you got for me today!!!!” He says, “That’s
great!” and I say, “Thank you. I thought so.”
Everybody is happy and then we marvel at the beauty that is
displayed. It’s good for people to feel
a part of “good deeds”, don’t you think?
Laura
The Offerings by Moselle Bagby
Hi!
it's Moselle! As you know I'm doing the “through
the Bible reading plan” and I
read about the offerings today in
Leviticus and they are so powerful! So
I'm going to tell you about them.
In the Bible we have: The
Burnt offering ,The Grain offering, The Peace offering, The Sin offering, &
The Guilt offering.
Let’s start with the Burnt
offering. This offering had to be totally burnt up in smoke on the altar. This
means that God wants me totally like the animal. So that is every day and not
just on Sunday. The Priest had to clean
the ashes of the offering every day in his Holy undergarments! That's special!
And then we have the Grain
offering. Aaron’s sons presented this to the Lord. This is a mixture of grain,
olive oil and sprinkled with incense. It can be the harvest grain or the young
green shoots. Pretty cool right? This
represents that at any season whether you are nine and working at the roasting
room or you are receiving your retirement check, just keep giving to God!
Whatever you have, and whatever the season of your life-- Give! Give! Give!
Then we have the Peace
offering. Peace to God means that everything is in his order. If you were God
you would want to have everything in your order right? I mean I would if I
were! If God gave you something cool like a motorcycle, you would give him
something back right? That is telling God you know where it came from! Right?
So anyway that's the peace offering.
Then we have the Sin
offering. Again you sin. This I think is even worse! The animal sacrificed here
has to be perfect! IT MUST! Because you sinned BAD!! BAD TO THE BONE! Hehe.....
Anyway back to the story. So it’s a valuable thing to sacrifice! Right? You
know its not good..... you know....... that you sinned against God! But its
normal. It’s ok! He will always forgive you, but usually sin will cost you
something. That's the sin offering.
And then we have the Guilt offering. It’s like the cherry on top of the sin
offering. This offering costs something very valuable. So in the Bible they
say: give me “the ram” not “a ram” but “the ram”. Because it is the main guy in the flock.
He is the one that makes the little lambs and that makes the shepherd
rich. So we know that it will cost
something valuable in our future. But for us he might say: (this is just an
example) Give me your house! (because that's what’s valuable now days) or
your car!
In the Bible they say you
“unintentionally” sinned, but I don't know what that means so I'm just gonna
put “sinned”. Anyway, back to the story. Because you sinned is why you have to give
it up! I think this Guilt Offering means that this kind of sin will cost you
something of your future.
All these offerings help
you understand what will make God happy with your life. So I hope you enjoyed
my “TRUE” story. Thank for listening to God’s word spoken through me!
Bye! Love, Moselle
The Bagby Bunch Corner
Since arriving back to Vero Beach we have had a
brief moment to breathe before beginning our plans to be with our ministry team
in Nicaragua and Honduras. Time in Vero
is also full of ministry opportunities and relationships that God has given to
us to enjoy. Mikaela and Lukas
“successfully” (so far) began their college classes and still working through
some homeschool stuff. Since Lukas had
a big taste for working and earning his own money with the Trilogy (on Maui),
he is eager to also work here with Rio Coco Beans as part of the Farmer’s
market team. We learned that he likes to
be generous with his finances and gives really good gifts to those he
loves. He is also good at his savings
for the future. Mikaela will be helping
with a children’s encounter at the church….teaching and doing worship. We are excited for her and the kids that will
be attending. God shows up in a big way
on these events. It was where Moselle
let us know that ,”my whole life is changed!! I
am different now.“ Funny thing she does actually consistently
demonstrates very strong Christian traits or a true disciple and believer. She is an inspiration really to us and a joy.
Arielle & I went for an interview for her to be a part of the “leadership”
team for the kid’s ministry at the church.
It is neat how there are opportunities for them to be able to use their
giftings to serve others at church. We
think it is the key to a growing believers life… Love and serving God and
others. We enjoy seeing them engage themselves in the process with people.
We will be able to have “Grandma and Grandpa” come
for a visit. Our children get to be with
them while we are on our ministry trip.
We are blessed to have them fly from Hawaii to be with us and my brother
Todd’s family. They are so purposed in
their relationship with us and we are grateful to have them as part of our
lives and our “team” of people we minister with. Laura
& Michael
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