NO DIGAS QUE NO PODES • DON'T SAY THAT YOU CAN'T

Tomate cuatro minutos y mirá el video. Paz!

Take four minutes and watch the video. Peace!

SEPTIEMBRE EN H3O / SEPTEMBER AT H3O

El 14 de septiembre, por la noche, corrimos 7.5kms en ocasión de las fiestas por la Independencia de Guatemala y al día siguiente nos juntamos en la iglesia para cambiar una "bodega" en la clase de niños.

Gracias H3O por estar siempre dispuestos a hacer pequeñas cosas que hacen grande el Reino de Dios.

On the night of september 14th we made a 7.5kms running for our Independence Day and the next day we gather at church to a "extreme make over" to turn a storage room into a kids classroom.

Thanks to H3O for always being ready to make small things that make great the Kingdom of God.

THIS IS MY KING!

JUGAR A GANAR / PLAY TO WIN

ESPAÑOL

Según Mark Batterson hay dos formas de jugar un juego: La primera es jugar a perder, jugar a lo seguro, a defenderse, a evitar que el otro equipo gane defendiéndose hasta de lo que el equipo contrario no está haciendo. La segunda forma de jugar un juego, en cambio, es jugar a ganar, siempre atentos, buscando la oportunidad para sobrepasar al otro equipo, siempre arriesgándolo todo por la victoria, siempre hacia delante. De esto se trata el libro En un foso, con un león y en un día de nieve. Del riesgo que representa el destino.

A partir de la historia bíblica de Benaía (quien, en un día de nieve se interna en un foso y mata a un león con sus propias manos), el escritor desenvuelve página a página lo que significa cazar la gloria para la que fuimos creados y que está disfrazada como si fuera nuestra peor pesadilla mientras ruge furiosa para amedrentarnos y hacernos huir. Pero la verdad es que los cazadores de leones escogen el riesgo, hacen lo que los humanos normales no hacen: persiguen al león. Algo en ellos funciona de otra forma, quizá al revés, y donde cualquier persona en su sano juicio ve problemas, ellos ven oportunidades. Y lo más emocionante es que todos llevamos dentro a un cazador de leones.

Es hora de perseguir el destino en lugar de huir de él. Es hora de dejar de temer que nuestra vida se acabe y comenzar a temer que nunca empiece. Es hora de dejarse llevar por el entusiasmo que le dio origen a la palabra entusiasmo. Es hora de arriesgarse y desafiar las probabilidades. Es hora de dar el primer paso en dirección a esa oportunidad que bien podría explotarte en la cara. Es hora de jugar a ganar y dejar de jugar a no perder. Es hora de buscar el gol. Es hora de volver a palpitar con el corazón indomable que Dios nos dio cuando nos creó para cazar la gloria.

Y leer este libro sería un buen primer paso.

ENGLISH

According to Mark Batterson there are two ways to play a game: The first one is play not to loose, play it safe and don’t let the other team win just by defending every imaginable point, but the second way you can play a game is play to win, always alert, looking for the opportunity to outrun the other team, always risking it all in order to get victory, always stepping forward. That’s what this book, In a pit with a lion on a snowy day, is about. The risk of destiny.

From the center of the biblical story of Benaiah (whom, on a snowy day, gets into a pit and kills a lion with his hands), the writer unfolds page by page the meaning of hunting the glory that we were made for and that, too often, is disguised as our worst nightmare, roaring angry just to scare us and make us flee. But the truth is that lion chasers choose risk and make what a normal human wouldn’t: They chaise the lion. Something in them is wired differently, maybe backwards, and where any common sense person sees trouble, they see opportunity. And the exciting thing is that we all have a lion chaser inside of us.

It’s time to chaise our destiny instead of running from it. It’s time to not fear that our life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning. It’s time to let go with the enthusiasm that gave birth to the word enthusiasm. It’s time to risk it all and defy the odds. It’s time to take the first step towards that chance that could blow up in your face. It’s time to play to win and stop playing not to loose. It’s time to look for the score. It’s time to beat again with the untamed heart that God gave us when he made us to chase glory.

And read this book would be a great first step.

EL MILAGRO DE LA ADOPCION • THE MIRACLE OF ADOPTION

ESPAÑOL

El otro día visitamos (Virginia y yo) la iglesia de mi suegra y pudimos saludar a algunas personas que no habíamos visto en mucho tiempo. Y como todo encuentro de este tipo, en esta ocasión hubo una sorpresa: una pareja que había luchado por tener bebés, ahora tenía a dos niñas.

La adopción permitió lo que sus cuerpos no habían querido hacer. Además, mientras terminaban los trámites para adoptar a una, les avisaron que los habían autorizado a adoptar a otra niña. Les preguntaron si estaban dispuesto a adoptar a las dos y dijeron que sí.

¿Por qué escribo sobre esto? Pues porque desde hace meses he estado pensando en por qué Dios permite que un montón de gente que en realidad no quiere tener hijos, los tenga, y por qué no ayuda a las parejas que luchan por años para poder formar una familia. Y aunque Dios no me debe ninguna explicación (y si me la diera tampoco lo entendería, estoy seguro), creo que una mañana estuvo dispuesto a revelarme algo: Hay tantos niños creciendo en hogares desintegrados o siendo abandonados o siendo explotados o siendo asesinados (no tengo ganas de usar el eufemismo "aborto" y si no te gusta, nimodo), que Dios está usando a un ejército de matrimonios para rescatar a esos niños. ¿Cómo? Haciendo que el abandonado sea aceptado. Haciendo que el huérfano habite en familia. Haciendo que el rechazado sea amado. Formando familias de donde era imposible formarlas.

No creo ni por un segundo en el evangelio de la prosperidad o en la patraña de que "si lo quiero, tengo que reclamarlo" y que si no sucede es porque no lo pedí con suficiente fe y es precisamente por eso, porque no creo ese cristianismo light, que veo la mano de Dios llevando a muchos de esos matrimonios a salvar vidas que, de otra forma, no hubieran salvado.

Hoy escogí no ser un quejista, sino un alabador. Qué grande es Dios ¿no?

ENGLISH

The other day, we (Virginia and I) went to visit my mother in law's church and we said hello to people that we haven't meet in a while. And, like in any of these encounters, we had a surprise: we saw a couple that were fighting to have children for a long time and now they had two little girls!

The adoption made possible what their bodies couldn't do. Besides, while they were finishing the paperwork to the adoption of the first girl, they were told that the second adoption had been approved, so they adopt the two girls at the same time.

And why in the world am I writing about this? Well, because I've been thinking for some time about the reasons why God let people that doesn't want kids, have kids, and why doesn't He help the couples that really want to have a family. And even God doesn't owe me an explanation (and if He'd gave it to me, I certainly wouldn't understand it anyway), I think that He wanted to show me something really powerful one morning: There is so many children growing up in broken homes or being abandoned or being used or being killed (I don't want to use the euphemism 'abortion' so don't even start), that God is using an army of couples to rescue those kids. How? Making the abandoned into acceptance. Making the orphan have a family. Making the rejected be loved. Making families from where was impossible.

I really don't believe in the gospel of prosperity and I don't buy the 'if you want it, just claim it, and if it doesn't come is because you didn't claimed with faith' lie. And because I don't believe in that light christianity that I can see the hand of God taking an army of marriages into circumstances where they will be able to save lives that, otherwise, wouldn't be saved.

Today I chose not to be a complainer but a worshiper. How great God is. Isn't he?

THE NOTICER by Andy Andrews

Have you ever been in a situation in life that makes you wish to run and live on the top of a mountain for the rest of your days? Have you ever felt so lack of purpose that you really start to believe you were an accident? Have you ever been in need of someone explaining you why is it that life is so complicated? Well, all you need is a different perspective. A different point of view.

This book, I promise, will be a mirror for anyone who reads it. It's funny but, at the same time, so deep than you can't let it go unfinished.

At first, I thought that it would be a little doll but after a few pages it proved me wrong.

If I have to summarize what the book let me for my life, I would say that it opened my eyes to this simple truth: All I need, when the bottom drops off, is a little perspective.

I can tell you right now that when life seems uglier than death, it's because we're focusing on the wall, instead of the opportunity of build a door. And really, it all comes down to that. We see failure where we should see learning. We see pain where we should see growth. We see bad things where we should see opportunities for good. We see absence where we should see Presence.

I've found in The Noticer a great inspiring book with one huge risk: You may want to notice some things in your own life. And that, my friend, is a wonderful risk! Read it, enjoy it, notice it!.