Day 2 – August 4, 2009
I woke up at 6:00am this morning. I was blessed by Spurgeon’s “Morning & Evening” devotional this morning. It was a thought on this phrase from Daniel 11:32, “but the people that do know their God shall be strong.” How well do I know God? Is my knowledge of Him simply a textbook knowledge, or is it a knowledge that comes from the experience of walking with Him? Do I take the time to get to know Him? This is a challenging thought for every believer. For many professing Christians, their knowledge of God is limited to what they hear in the Sunday morning sermon. It is nothing more than religious rhetoric that has little or no application to their daily lives. Oh, how sweet it would be if those who profess to belong to Christ, would truly get to know Christ. This was the consuming passion of Paul (Php. 3:10). Is it my consuming passion?
After a wonderful waffle and sausage breakfast, that Mrs. Ashley prepared for us, we left to make the almost two-hour drive to the church in Jayuya (pronounce “ha-yu-ya”). Bro. Ashley, Dan, W.C. and myself went to do some work on the building. The drive is an arduous drive over mountainous roads. These roads are pot-holed and narrow. As the road winds its way up the mountain, the are numerous “switchbacks” where the turns are so steep it seems you could see your tail lights in front of you. Dan described the ride as “the roller coaster ride that won’t end.” For the sake of nausea, it was necessary to stop several times. Brother Ashley stated that his boys have to stop every time they travel to church.
The church building is situated in a very visible location for the small town of Jayuya. It is an existing church whose attendance had declined. The Ashley’s are trying to help the church get back to a pattern of growth and soul-winning. Then, they hope to be able to transfer the leadership of the church to a Latino, and they want to begin a new work near Bayamon.
We spent the day painting, cleaning, etc. The members of the church have somewhat of a welfare mentality and they do not tithe or help in the physical needs of the building. On man, Miguel, sees the need and vision and helps Brother Ashley with the labor around the building.
In the late afternoon, at around five o’clock, we began the ride back to their house. We had been on the road, and headed back up the mountain, for about five minutes. All of a sudden, we heard the sound of a truck horn. As we continued our gaze up the road, we came within three feet of the front grill of a loaded semi-truck. The eighteen wheeler was coming around on the notorious switchbacks on our side of the road! For a split second, I knew that life was over. The chances of surviving the imminent impact would be minimal, considering the sheer weight of the massive truck. If the impact did not kill us, the weight of the truck would shove us backwards, over the mountain’s edge and plummeting down into the wooded canyon below. Praise the Lord, the truck was able to stop before impact, at approximately three feet from the mini-van we were in!
We arrived back at their house at about 6:30pm and, after showers, we sat down to a delicious dinner prepared by Mrs. Ashley. We dined on baked chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing. Then, for dessert, we enjoyed homemade peach cobbler with ice cream.
Following supper, we played several rounds of Rook. Mrs. Ashley takes winning a game seriously! She was funny.
Before bed, Bro. Ashley, Dan and myself spent some discussing various books and assorted points of theology. It was a good time of talking.
IT is past time for bed now, and so I’ll bid everyone a “Good Night.”
