Abilities, talents, gifts … Some, almost don’t even require
baiting the hook in order to catch fish. Others ~ like me, we’re better off
just going to the restaurant. Ha! Most ~ we’ve sat in the fuselage
of the aircraft, traveling across the country … or across the
world. But, you’re best off to keep me out of the cockpit … Just
saying! Music ~ we have different genres ~ and rarely do you find a
person who does not like to listen to ‘their’ music. And playing
~ I can handle a guitar. But, a concert at ‘Red Rocks’ ~ yeah,
you won’t find ‘moi’ on stage.
So MANY gifts that proceed from each of us. One that will NEVER be
mine, is what I recently saw in El Salvador, as two fine brothers in
our Savior preformed acrobatics on ‘kids bikes’. Aka … BMX!
Danny and Vic, your abilities, your talents, those gifts which you've been blessed with … they bring a smile
to my face. And my reality ... of solely being a spectator. Indeed!
But ~ an ability …
a gift ... that I’ve been blessed to enjoy … is that of reading scripture as it was originally written. But, let me be honest. I meet with three
other brothers weekly … And I’m pretty much the High School
student amonst the ‘Professors’. None-the-less, to be able to go
to the source of those early New Testament authors. How cool is that?
So you can imagine
my surprise when I asked Danny about his ‘BROTHSRHOOD’
sweatshirt. You see the S in the
middle is that of the Greek Sigma ~ So here you had a guy who has this
ministry which has Christ as the center … and he wasn't aware of the fact ‘Christ’ was right there in the center of his shirt.
Yes, S is the first letter of
‘Savior’ … Sωτήρ … What
was simply a fancy ‘E’, has become so much more!
Danny & Vic ~ School in Ahuachapan
Perhaps the MOST
important part … is that Christ is in the CENTER of their, of our
lives. Amen to that! And though, like all … we have those days, when
like Peter on the sea … we’re sinking more than believing. Still, we are
grateful for this ‘BROTHSRHOOD’
~ that in those times where we might be sinking ... that He the Sωτήρ
is always faithful! And the ‘BROTHSRHOOD’
~~ being His instruments, using those gifts in which He has so
blessed each of us with ~~ we stand as brothers in support of the other.
Please follow the links below to see what Baja Christian Ministries are doing only a few miles south of the California border. One of those ministries is building
a 'Bodega' for 'Brotherhood' ministries in Baja ...
Two hundred blogs … Sometimes we never know where a particular goal
will take us, and what it will
A Favorite Sunset ~ Indeed
look like years from its beginning.
That is the case for this blog which I began now fifteen years ago.
My simple goal was to write … to journal … to blog about
something that was on my mind. Something about my journey. That which
both has significance and often is unique to this old guy.
I
gave it the title, ‘Viajero...blogging Rick’s Journey’. Viajero
means traveler in Spanish. I have seen no reason to change the name …
for that is what God has so blessed me with.
Though
it began at a snails pace … only five blogs in the first four
years, my hope is to write at least one a month. I peaked a decade
ago, beginning in 2012, as I determined to conclude the final fifty
shifts of my firefighting career, by telling the story of that
journey. I then continued in 2013 with what I called … ‘People,
Places and Praises’, as I ventured on an amazing thirty-day ‘bucket
list’ motorcycle trip.
2017 Coast to Coast
Personal
highlights have been many. But they include: of course that first,
‘Go Vertical’, about climbing the Sears Tower. As well, my other
stairclimb blog that I wrote in February 2022 called, ‘Thanks ~~
For the Pace’. That climb … was at the Empire State Building. Who
gets to do this? I have been so blessed!
Some
personal favorites from those fire blogs are: ‘Matters Not how a
Man Dies’, ‘Jerry, and the Wild Diabetic’, ‘Bear Hug…Leaves
a Lasting Impression’, or there was ‘Vick and the Zap!’, to the
last, ‘A Grateful Firefighter says...Goodbye’. Other favorites
include: ‘People, Places and Praises...Day 18...A Most Difficult
Day’, Sequoia 2011, No ‘Step’ in this Dad, Around the Next
Corner, Mom, ‘World Influencer’, or ‘No Tombstone...My Tribute
to Mom’. As well there was, ‘Oregon ABCity Tour' … Exploring
Our State, One Letter at a Time’, ‘Smell of the Mitt’, ‘I
Tell You Rick’, ‘A Short Courtship’, ‘The Greatest Week’
and ‘Gizmo ~~ A Very Good Friend’.
Adventure & Reflection ~ Might they Continue
Each,
are so much more than the titles given. Yet, I have found that those
titles in fact have provided the very synopsis for each one. What
stands out most … each were related particularly to a relationship
or personal adventure. Some, are about my mother, or my father and my
step-father. There have been those about my lovely wife, Karen.
Others about uncle Ron, my children and very close friends. And of
course last, but far from least … writing about this amazing
journey called life, and the MANY ways that our Heavenly Father has
literally guided my steps. I have been reminded often, and likewise
encourage others, with what I concluded the blog called, ‘It’s
Just A SIM Card’, saying, “Travel slowly, listen deeply and wait
for much more than one can even imagine.” In doing such, I believe
that your life can likewise be so very blessed!
Will I continue to write for another fifteen years, another
two-hundred blogs? I would not dare ~ to be so bold. What I hope …
that those who read would be encouraged in doing such. And perhaps,
even comment. That, for some reason, has been few. And … What I
know … Life provides amazing adventure. And if I’m so blessed to
live to seventy-nine, and blessed to continue to write about this
journey in which our Father has orchestrated … then, and only then
… will blog four-hundred be written.
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