Work, an act of worship

Jesus teaches us that work is a wonderful activity that was taught from the beginning of time. God, himself was a hard worker, as attested by scripture in Genesis one. His work consisted of the creation, which was making “everything” that ever existed. So one would suppose that would qualify Him to be a hard worker. After creating everything He took a day of rest. And He being perfect, we would suppose He worked hard enough to need rest; or maybe He was teaching us by example to rest. But either way, He made us in His image, which seems to indicate that work is pretty significant to Him. Also, since we were created in His image, when we work, we are doing something Godlike, at least, that which was a part of His image. So each day, when we check into work, we should go energetically, recognizing that we are uniquely made to do the job He has for us. For many years, 20 to be exact, I trudged into work day after day, not enjoying my creation, as I should have been. Just a few years before my retirement, I woke up to the fact one day of how blessed I was just to have an opportunity work. The art of work itself comes easy for me, and I am a very hard worker, as long as I enjoy what I am doing. After retirement, I started to work again doing the things I love doing. Now it is easy for me to enjoy every minute of the work I am involved in. Now having the liberty and freedom to do a work that I enjoy, has brought a peace in my heart that I had not previously experienced. I look back, and think, if only I had been able before to see work from God’s perspective, I might have been more fruitful. At the same time, I do not look back with a lot of regrets, because I know that every day I sat down at my desk, I was learning something that was preparing me for the job I am doing now. That very thought excites me. If we treat our work, as an act of worship, done for His glory we are able to go through a day much more relaxed and at peace. We will understand that taking care of His creation is indeed an act of worship. Working to care for our families is an act of worship. And as we work through our daily chores, we are told to make disciples. Therefore work can become an act of Evangelism. As you are going, make disciples. Matthew 28:19 a. Note the command is in making disciples. All work is a means of bringing honor and dignity into our lives. And there is indeed dignity in just doing ordinary things, like sitting behind a desk, driving a truck, repairing computers, performing surgeries or standing behind the laborers work bench. He is right there beside us in preparing songs, music or messages, if that happens to be our work. All the while He offers us a means of discipline in the careers we have chosen. So work is important, it should be pleasurable, and it certainly is a means of helping us keep food on our tables. Perhaps that is the reason He tells us; “if a man will not work, he shall not eat.” II Thess. 3:10b. So, if you are not already doing so, I challenge you to join me in a new approach I am now taking in my work. Breathe this little prayer as you check into your office, or work place. Lord, here I am your willing servant ready to start the day serving you. Make each minute of this day count for your glory. And each minute you give me to labor in your service, make me aware that you may be placing someone in my path, who is watching me. Perhaps that individual is not one of your children. So help me be the example to them that I should be. May I do or say something that would set them on a path to finding you. And Lord may every desk, counter, dash board, work bench, or field, be made into an altar of worship so that we can worship you, the creator of each unique profession. Dock Caton 04/25/12

MORE THOUGHTS FROM NICARAGUA:

Today I took the time to sit and jot down a few notes from some of Norma’s e-mail that she sent to family and friends. As I looked at them I realized this might create some interesting thoughts to use on the blog.

Hopefully we will have captured some impressions that you our friends and family will enjoy and will discover some areas in which you can pray for us

Norma: We have been spending our evenings this week after leaving the Nehemiah Center with Maria’s children Jose Ismael and Cesia. They come to the house where we are being hosted, by Ali and her twelve year old daughter Franchesca who live in Maria's neighborhood. We're having some good laughs together, much of them on us (Dock and me) with how strange we do and say things. ha! :) These kids are a riot.

We have given printed materials/info on the Nehemiah Center. We're sorry that we will be gone by the time she's back from her trip...but it's likely a good/God thing that she takes the initiative on her own to connect to the Center. She is excited about the possibilities of partnering with the Nehemiah Center, especially and for starters, in the two areas of 1) church growth/pastor & leadership training and 2) the possibility of joining the ACECEN -- Association of Christian Schools in Nica -- to get some teacher training, help with curriculum, have a network of support/accountability, including legal advice, and have other educational tools made available. When she returns in May, she will set some appointments to get that started. In the meantime, Dock and I hope to schedule a time to meet with Pastor Vicente and his neighbor (and Ezra Team trainer) Henry Cruz to talk church growth and leadership training based on integral faith. Maria said it all sounds like a God-send and in good God-timing -- that the school and the association of seven churches already have gotten a good start training teachers, pastors and church leaders the last few years in the Bible Institute. She says, "Now we can go farther."

Thanks to all, in reality, we are doing great! God is so good to let us be here, doing what we're doing. We see his hand in things every time we turn around. Very few issues or problems have come up...well, maybe one was the other morning Dock woke me up to say, "Just shake your clothes out before putting them on. I found this 4-5" spider inside a shirt...." Ha! Made me feel like a kid back in Oklahoma or the Ozarks! :)

I didn't sleep well last night either. The rainy season that usually starts in May is forecast to start now and my arthritis is acting up the last couple of days and nights. You'd think that living in a hot sauna like this (88-100 degrees) would help arthritis, but I can't really say it's helped that much. Once it starts raining, that should be better and I'm looking forward to it. We were in a big meeting outside yesterday here at the Center with our fellow missionary and Nica pastor friends when it rained 24 big drops! Just enough to bless us with cooler air and chase the Nicaraguans under the cover of the porch. ha! There's only two seasons here..not four. This is the end of the 6- months of summer which is called the dry season. May 1 starts winter with 6 months of rain.


Finally...we have some internet this morning here in the Center after an outage yesterday of a couple hours. We had an on-again-off-again situation at the house where we're staying...until about Thursday of last week and since then ...nothing. We can walk a few blocks from the house to the internet cafe and pay a little money for some minutes, but the computers and systems are older and slower..plus we get interrupted with a dozen marketing banners popping up within a 10 minute period.

We got a cool streak of weather last night...down to 88. :) It felt so good. Ali got up "freezing." :) Humidity is 55% all the time and sometimes higher. But I've pretty well gotten accustomed..you sweat it out! I'd say (regarding the big brown Nica spider) that he was potentially very dangerous...dangerous because if I saw him moving, I'd probably hurt myself running away! He was not poisonous and Dock had killed him by the time I saw him. He was just an overgrown Grandaddy Long Legs! (that's the spider, not Dock)...just like everything else down here in the tropics is huge. Ali's oregano plant is 3.5 feet high! Her two poinsettia plants (trees) are 10-12 feet tall. Some mangos are the size of small watermelons and watermelons are monstrous.

Dock, Those are but a few impressions of many that have made up a part of a beautiful journey this far.

We continue meeting with new people and agencies everyday. It is truly amazing how God is at work here in this beautiful land.

Thursday of next week, we will hop on a little jumper plane, and head for the far north Atlantic, in Puerto Cabezas. I have been asked to speak twice in that area and we are supposed to check on an orphanage and a medical outpost while there. We still have over 20 days left, and we want to take advantage of every single moment.

For me, the most difficult and most trying moments have to do with washing my clothes in an outside washer with a concrete rub board. Ha. Not really complaining, but It’s been awhile since I have actually washed my own clothes.

Please keep us in touch and in your prayers. There will surely be more exciting things to come. Dock and Norma.

FAITH, A BALANCING AGENT IN LIFE

FAITH, A BALANCING AGENT IN LIFE

As I was looking through a devotional guide this morning, I ran across some words written by Orel Hershiser.  I was excited when I realized this was the same man who won the CY Young award, and World Series MVP in 1988.  In that same year, he was THE SPORTING NEWS pitcher of the year, and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED sportsmen of the year.  He was 3 times an all star, received a gold glove award, Babe Ruth award, and MVP in both the American and National league.   He was one of the better hitting pitchers and even as a pitcher; he received a silver slugger award, with a spectacular 201 batting average. 

This is quite an impressive resume in anybody’s mind, but these awards only touch the surface of the amount of awards he won throughout his career.  But to me, far more important were the words that I read that he had written in the devotional. 

 “It’s my faith that lifts me up when I have failed.  It’s my faith that reminds me of my insignificance when the world has been laid at my feet because of my success throwing a ball.  To call myself a Christian and then not to strive to be the best I can be and do the most I can with what he has given me would be the height of hypocrisy. “

  “My faith has been a balancing agent in my life, Christ thrills me with who I am, and reminds me gently who I am not.  When I suffer, I know I am still loved.  When I am on top of the world I remember that my accomplishments mean nothing in light of eternity. “

What an awesome philosophy!  His words in these two paragraphs alone speak volumes to me.  My faith is the only thing I have that keeps my life in proper check and balance.  Sometimes my relationship with Christ causes me to be thrilled by who I am, and the uniqueness in which he has made me.  Then along beside that thrill comes the reality of realizing what and who I am not. 

Throughout my grade school and high school years, baseball was the real love of my life. It was the only sport in which I really excelled.  And although like most kids, I had that secret desire to play in the major leagues.  Reality set in early on during my senior year, however when I finally realized I was about as tall as I would ever be, and my skills hardly matched that of Yogi, Mantle and Stan The Man.  But even with my size, I managed to make the first team every year.  I even played on a few championship teams from little league through High school. But I had to come to grips with what I was not.  And I was certainly not major league material.

But faith, through my relationship with Jesus Christ is what keeps me balanced, grounded and consistently in the Word.  That fact gives me comfort in time of weakness, or in times of suffering.  I rest assured knowing he loves me, even if I can’t hit the 450 ft. home run, or steal 60 bases in a season.  I can still manage to hit a single every once in a while.  And if I am extra blessed, I might even hit a double or triple or even an “inside the parker”.  And there is one thing for sure I can do.  I can stand along the side of Orel and eagerly say; we are on the same team.  And we definitely have the same AGENT.

 Dock Caton 4/2/2012

NEWS FROM NICARAGUA

This letter is being sent to a few trusted friends and family who I know will be praying for us.  Thank you so much for your prayers.  God has made this trip for Norma and me possible only because you care enough to pray.  Thank you so very much.

Norma and I find ourselves back in the same place that we were in only a few months ago; right here in Nicaragua. The one thing that we did not realize is that we landed at the beginning of Holy Week, and everything is at a standstill.  We have not been as active the first three days as we had thought we would  be, but God knew all about this ahead of time.  He knew our bodies needed a little time to adjust to the tremendous heat we are facing.  It has been 100 degrees or over every single day, and does not let up even in the night.  Plus, the fact there is no AC, to cool off once in a while creates a bit of a problem.  We both readily admit that is a little bit of a shock to us, but we are not complaining.   God is so good to le us be here. We know that we are where we are supposed to be.

We are renting a little house from a young Pastor lady by the name of Ali.  The arrangement is sort of bread and breakfast style.  Day in and day out she does not stop talking about her Savior.  She refers to him as (mi Senor) My Lord or my Master.  She reminds me a little bit of what I read about Mary in John ch. 12 when she fell at the Master’s feet, and did not stop admiring him and putting expensive nard and perfume on his feet, then wiped them with her hair.   She seems so humbled and given to Him.  She gives one story after another straight from the Bible and delivers it in such a way that is so alive and refreshing.

Beginning Monday, we will be more in a routine, as we will have a little office, a place to work out of, and it will be available to us daily or as we want or need it.  It is located in the Nehemiah Center that Norma and I made contact with when we were here before.  Hopefully there will be a little bit better Internet service there.  Here, we get it once or twice a day, and it doesn’t last long. 

We have had some good visits with Maria; things are going well with her.  We will be in the Easter Service with her tomorrow.  They are so happy with their new Church and school. There is still work to be done, but it doesn’t bother them in the least.  They just keep right on going.

Please pray for our physical strength, and perhaps that God would make a break in this heat, or give us more strength to pass through it.  We want to be as effective as we can possibly be in these few weeks that we are here.   

Secondly, we are praying about two special opportunities while we are here to make some side trips.  We had been praying about these two places even before we left home.   One of these trips is up in Puerto Cabezas, which is far up north on the Atlantic Side.  A missionary colleague who lives in Lisle and has worked in Nicaragua, has a Nicaraguan friend who runs an orphanage up there.  He has asked us to check on this work if at all possible, while we are here.  This is an area you can only get into by small plane, and he will pay our way up there if we are able to go.   The trip will only happen though, if our friend can make e-mail contact with this guy to let him know we are coming; so it isn’t sure as yet.  But please pray that he can get through by e-mail.

The other side trip, which we hope to make, is a trip into El Salvador.  We have a mission friend coming from Spain who is in a conference there, and will be discussing ways to teach Nicaraguans and other Central and Latin Americans about moving out to other parts of the world.  They have created their own Latin American Mission society to send out Missionaries.  This has been a long time prayer and dream of ours to see missionaries going out all around the world.

And last but not least, this is something that is very dear to our hearts.  We thoroughly believe more than ever, that God is preparing something very special for his Church, by uniting people from all over the world.  We do not know if we have 3 days, or 3 million years until He returns, but it seems as if, for whatever reason, He is trying to unite the Church around the world in unprecedented ways.  We are so thrilled and excited about being a part of this world movement, as we watch Him drawing people together and uniting them in miraculous ways. 

To sum it all up, I guess my request to you this time, is simply pray that God’s will be done.  We send you our love and prayers, and sincerely request your prayers in our behalf as well. 

Sincerely, Dock and Norma

Today's departure

Today we are off again to Nicaragua.  We have prayed for so many years for God to show us how we might be used wherever He leads.  We are excited about this opportunity, and look forward to what is waiting for us there.  We ask for your prayers for health and strength as we travel.  We noticed for the last several days, the temperature in Managua is holding at 100 degrees.  That will be quite a shock for us, as we know our limitations in hot weather.  But we also know He is good and will provide mercy.  We covet your prayers for His grace and mercy.  Continue reading Norma’s prayer, and the little partial story of how God is speaking to us as we collaborate with others for the cause of Christ. 

Dock

Prayer partners, we ask that you pray for us as we travel today to Nicaragua. We're so excited to be back there again..and for longer this time. Pray that our five weeks will be glorifying to God's Kingdom work and that we will have open eyes, ears and hearts to learn from the Nicaraguans...to hear God's heartbeat...and to hopefully find ways we can support, encourage and edify God's church among our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. We will be visiting our old friends and will also be adding a new dimension to ministry. We're collaborating with the Nehemiah Center through a short term project with PICI - Partners in Christ, International. (www.nehemiahcenter.net) We appreciate your prayers for our safety and health too.

God bless!

Norma

ON OUR WAY AGAIN

After many years of waiting for retirement, and praying about how the Lord would use us in the last season of our lives, we are now beginning to see some idea of how we can be used.  In January, we took a vision and study trip to Nicaragua to see if there are areas that we could be of service in any fashion in that beautiful country.  We have been told so many stories from so many different missionaries and agencies in Nicaragua that the country is so oversaturated with missionaries that we were already feeling there was not a great lot that we could offer to the Country.

We had thought that only one trip might be sufficient for us to see some open doors, or that the door would be completely closed, and we could move on to some other area.  But our Church, Ginger Creek Community Church is heavily involved in ministry there.  Norma and I both are on the mission team at Ginger Creek.

While in Nicaragua this last trip, we began to see and feel some new possibilities, as we travelled around the Managua area talking to missionaries and agencies about their interests and vision.  We had heard about an agency called the Nehemiah Center that fascinated us very much.  We visited the Center, and discovered something that we had wondered about for along time.  We found that this was an agency born out of Nicaraguan National Churches, that was totally indigenous and moving on it’s own.  This really struck a cord with our thinking, and we began to dig deeper into the organization.  We found that although there are many participating American agencies, none of them are involved in the decision-making works of the National Church.  No organization puts any money into the operation, without the consent and blessing of the Nicaraguans.   

We discovered one organization that was so deeply committed to this philosophy of mission, that we wanted to know more about it.   It was quite intriguing, because although they did have a web page, which told a little about them, they were not in business of marketing to bring in missionaries or to hire more staff.  Instead, they are more interested in finding out if an individual fits their standard of Missionary service.  Very little was found about them, except they worked in Mexico, Nicaragua, Slovenia, Sudan and India.  We became even more intrigued and found a contact address in Arizona.   Then when Norma tried making contact with this address, the person that responded was in Lisle, IL, only a few miles from us.  We set an appointment to meet with the director, and found this to be quite an unusual meeting.  Upon introduction, he asked us about our story, and we poured out our hearts to him about what we at Ginger Creek were doing in Nicaragua. He asked about our past life, studies and experiences since our return from Spain in 1983.   After about 30 minutes of spilling our guts to him about our life, he looked up with a smile and said.  I love you guys, and I don’t even know you.  You have the heart of true missiologists.  You are the kind of people we look for to partner with us. 

Now it must be said, we did not go there looking for a job, nor were we seeking out any sort of assistance, other than how we could be used to the max in Nicaragua.

After 4 hours of sitting and discussing works all around the world, we left the meeting, loaded down with new books, new ideas and a new challenge thrown at us.  We went home so full of information, that it was almost overwhelming. 

We had already been preparing another trip to Nicaragua, so we asked him if there might be some work that he would want us to do while we were there, as this time we were planning to stay a little longer.

His response was amazing.  We would only want you to do the work that you are currently doing.  We would just ask that you continue doing it, and then report to us about what you learn.  We spend a lot of time looking over statistics and learning how we can better serve churches around the world.  The information and statistics that you are gathering would be a wealth of information for us.  We only need to know what you are doing and how you work is growing there.  You just work with the contacts you have, and we will be satisfied.  If you have time, we may ask you to go to the coast and check up on a work we have there. “  That is all we ask of you.  This will give you time to check us out, and see if you are interested in going deeper with us.

So here we are on our way to Nicaragua again, and on this trip, will be seeking God’s wisdom as to whether or not we fit in with their philosophy of mission, or perhaps if we at Ginger Creek may be able to partner with them in some way in Nicaragua. Either way, we see it as a win / win situation for all involved. 

We seek your prayers as we travel, believing God will provide all our needs while we are there.