Baptism of Jesus is like a tie-dyed t-shirt

Jesus Baptism: Mark 1:9,

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.

As I was packing supplies …and specifically craft and art supplies for our trip to CHE, …knowing that water was our theme…my conscience said, “You can’t take tie-dye to Nuevo Laredo. It’s a place where it is dry and water can be scarce ...and water pressure at the orphanage can sometimes be very low. And then that inner prayerful thought, which can be called the Holy Spirit, said, “Of course you take tie-dye! …That’s the whole point J The children will love it…it will be a reminder to them how much they are loved by God and how we are all living in community even though we are over 1200 miles away.”

Baptism was going on long time before John baptized Jesus. Baptism is about water… water is cleansing.  As we bathe in water it washes away dirt. When we say “I’m sorry for our wrong doings and let go of things that keep us from God…we feel better, we feel clean. Another word, for this is repentance. That’s what John the Baptist was up to.

Paint a Joyful Noise...the Art of Living

“Paint” a Joyful Noise to the Lord…the Art of Living

Psalm 100

Have you heard the song, “Happy”, by Pharrell Williams from the movie Despicable Me 2?  “Because I’m Happy”…to me that’s what Psalm 100 is all about! When you’re happy…thank God and make a joyful noise!

“Because I’m happy

Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof

Because I’m happy

Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth”

Like a tree by the water… Jeremiah 17:8

"They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it shall not be anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit."

This afternoon it is 89 degrees and sunny in Nuevo Laredo, according to the Weather Channel....and according to those of us here:) Hot and dry! So where do you see water on a day like today? Each day, at Casa Hogar we are reflecting on water; the water we see, drink, wash with, and carry around with us in bottles...etc. We need water to live. We can't live without it!

So where do you see water? 

I love the cacti. These succulent plants are brilliant at holding water in dry and hot places! 

And you know what? 

So was Jesus...He shared Living Water of God's love 

in some very spiritually dry places 

So,...where do you see Living Water today?

Where today can you invite someone to taste a spirtual drink of cool water?

God is wireless all the time

God is wireless all the time :) 

OMG!..that's all I can say! Sunday morning was an OMG moment,...was a "higher than a kite" morning! I was flying in the "we"-Cloud mountain top experience! (vs. my "i"Cloud)

Something we've been dreaming about happened. Many have been talking about  somehow chatting live, -a Skype or video chat with All Saints Church while we are at Casa Hogar Elim...and it happened:) With the Sunday school children from Minnetonka and the children in Nuevo Laredo it was "a live" moment ...all together!

Here we could see eachother, talk, introduce one another, sing, laugh, pray as one large group...and we even played the colored children's bells "Joy to the World"! It was absolute Joy !!! It was marvelous!

 It was a total team endeavor of North and South, English and Spanish, from digital natives (technology wise teens and young adults) to digital immigrants (we middle agers)...blending cameras and laptops, mixing Macs and PC's ...all teaching eachother while crossing our fingers through unreliable network coverages and over stretched extension cords ...all for a common goal just to be "live" together :) WOW! And we did it!

And right after the event... So excited!!! Wanting to post and blog about this fabulous moment,... We lost signal again...and again...and most of the day...we never could post a blog. In fact, reflecting, we had great trouble getting Wi-Fi signal right before this OMG "live" moment...

Not having Wi-Fi afterwards didn't inhibit us, for as the day continued, we had even more Joy and "slices of heaven" with our friends at Casa Hogar:) 

Yet how odd, that we had solid Wi-Fi and phone service only during Sunday School time? ...Which led to our "Ah-haa" moment:)

As we began to talk about it, we knew what the blog was to be, the story we were supposed to tell:) 

God is always wireless ...

and invites us to answer when He calls us:) 

He has the best "Friends and Family" plan ever....and that's His Plan:)

Post means after

Live means present:)

Thanks be to God:)

Out of the believer's heart...shall flow living water...

John 7:37

Saturday, on our way to CHE, (Casa Hogar Elim), we stopped to pick up some water....something we knew we couldn't do without. As we arrived at CHE, we were greeted by many friends! How wonderful to be invited to stay and be in our dear friends' home this week :) As we hugged each other, unpacked, talked, played, sang, painted, cooked, cleaned, shared pictures, ate together, and then at the close of the day, sang and prayed together...we thought about water...It's our theme of the week, and it's where our VBS's are flowing this summer :) 

Here we are,... in a generally dry hot place, ...So, where did we see water today? And where did we feel so alive, that it made our hearts feel forever quenched beyond our imaginations?

Buenos dias amigos!

We are blessed to be here! ...here in Laredo, Texas at LALM:) We arrived very late ...or shall I say very early this morning. We needed to take a detour to Corpus Christi ...going around a very large cloud last evening. A beautiful cloud ...whose nimbus was a little too cumulo! It was a "we" cloud...vs. an iCloud ...it was a cloud for everybody to see and enjoy...from a far:)

Blessings and enjoy the day! Watch for Mexico posts later today! Thanks for traveling with us!

Prayers as we cross the border:)

Penny:)

This is the day...let us rejoice!

This is the day...this is the day...that the Lord has made...let us rejoice... and be glad in it:)

This is the day... I get to join a team of 34 people at the airport today and begin on a journey to Laredo, Texas and then to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. This week we get to be guests in the homes of some very special people. First, we will stay with our friends at LALM, Latin American Lutheran Missions, who will accompany us across the border to Mexico. Then tomorrow we will be guests in the home of our special friends at Casa Hogar Elim, the orphanage we help support through All Saints Lutheran Church.

I feel so privileged to travel with such a beautiful group of people!...and that includes you!
I invite you to travel along with us this week through these blogs; through stories, pictures and prayers:) 

And I rejoice in knowing our friend Jesus is always with us...and I love how he continually asks me to carry my baggage...how sweet is that?! :) So that we can travel "light"  Thank you:)

Here is the direct link to the Mexico blog

http://casahogar2014.blogspot.com/ 

Blessings and Joy to you ... for this is the day:)

Penny

"Tell the kids I love them"  -God

The past 2 weeks, some of the Mexico Team came to Sunday School to meet the children and share about their upcoming journey.