The Grey Shadow

The national Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color published in its Cultural Supplement a translation I made of the famous Two English Poems of Jorge Luis Borges. I prefaced my translation with a short introduction. The article is available here. Enjoy!

Thanks to the Lord’s grace and mercy, I turned 38 years old last Thursday. I didn’t want any celebrations; however, I had a nice noon dinner with the family.

The year that just passed was hectic, full of changes, difficulties, and opportunities. My work with Rev. S. is about to end when he ends his term in office. My salary was in steady decrease since two years ago, and in the last year this decrease in my income almost reached crisis proportions. Thankfully, I am now registered as a Public Translator, a condition that potentially can help a lot with the family economy. However, I began to study again, and I had endless opportunities to write, speak, and think.

Certainly I am not getting any younger. I must confess that I feel anxious about the problems the future might bring. However, I try to obey the Lord’s command about not worrying because of tomorrow (Matthew 6:34 [show]Matthew 6:34 [34]"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (ESV)
). And, especially, I am grateful to Him for His countless blessings, beyond everything I could measure. Let’s keep walking ahead, one step at a time.

To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. (Isaiah 8:20, NASB)

Once I read in an online forum a post by a fellow Christian who mentioned that a common argument against having the Bible as our rule of faith and practice is pointing out that the Bible is silent on the matter; and this fellow wanted some help in countering the argument. Someone else cited Isaiah 8:20 [show]Isaiah 8:20 [20]To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. (ESV)
, and to this, the original poster replied, almost relieved: “It is a good text”.

This verse of Isaiah is not just “a good text”. It is a strong, firm and secure indication about the right place that the Bible, the Word of God, should have in the life of the Christian believer.

The Word of God is law; it is a rule of living that must provide guidance our actions and intentions in every moment, because it is a record of God’s will. We must also keep in mind that the meaning of ‘law’ should also be extended to the meaning given to it by the ancient Israelites, an idea that is made very clear in Deuteronomy 6 [show]Deuteronomy 6 The Greatest Commandment [6:1]"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules(1) that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, [2]that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. [3]Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. [4]"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.(2) [5]You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. [6]And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. [7]You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. [8]You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. [9]You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. [10]"And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you--with great and good cities that you did not build, [11]and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant--and when you eat and are full, [12]then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. [13]It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. [14]You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you-- [15]for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God--lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. [16]"You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. [17]You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. [18]And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers [19]by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised. [20]"When your son asks you in time to come, 'What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?' [21]then you shall say to your son, 'We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. [22]And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. [23]And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. [24]And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. [25]And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.' (ESV) Footnotes 1. [6:1] Or 'just decrees'; also verse 20 2. [6:4] Or 'The LORD our God is one LORD'; or 'The LORD is our God, the LORD is one'; or 'The LORD is our God, the LORD alone'
: The law is also teaching (as the ESV rendering of the text); is what makes us learn the way of God.

But the Bible is also a testimony. It is a living, extant record of how God decisively intervenes in the midst of human history to guide us to salvation, up to the point of the supreme sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, King and Prophet, and thus opening the doors of salvation through faith alone. The Bible is also a testimony, a record, of how a new humanity, transformed by God’s grace, was seeking to walk in obedience, hope, and faith towards the heavenly Jerusalem, the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 12:22-24 [show]Hebrews 12:22-24 [22]But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, [23]and to the assembly(1) of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, [24]and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (ESV) Footnotes 1. [12:23] Or 'church'
; Hebrews 11:10 [show]Hebrews 11:10 [10]For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (ESV)
).

The text from Isaiah is very clear: “If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” In the practice of our faith, once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3 [show]Jude 1:3 Judgment on False Teachers [3]Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. (ESV)
), we have the sacred and solemn duty of conform our doctrine, our teaching and our lives to the rules of the Word of God. As the context of Isaiah 8:20 [show]Isaiah 8:20 [20]To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. (ESV)
shows, other may place their trust in horoscopes and stars, or they migh seek communication with the dead, to get some guidance for their living; but “we will remember the name of the LORD our God” (Psalms 20:7, NKJV). ¡Amen!

Article written for the church’s weekly bulletin, Sept. 07, 2008.

After a long hiatus, I was invited to preach at my church’s youth group at their weekly Saturday evening meeting. I preached on the “falls of the just person” as stated in Proverbs 24:16 [show]Proverbs 24:16 [16]for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.
. So far, it looks like the sermon was well-received. (I plan to post the notes soon.)

It was nice to be back in preaching. I was quite out of “homiletical shape”, so it was more difficult than usual; but it was nevertheless a blessing for me. Adding to that, seeing so many new faces in the youth group was a real bonus.

Please keep praying for my church, who is facing some difficult times with several issues affecting the congregation, and especially for the youth group: seemingly untouched by those issues, it is very sensitive to anything disturbing the peace of the congregation.

I upgraded “phoenix”, my PIII-450 desktop workstation, to Slackware 12.1 over the last weekend. My workstation had Slackware 12.0 running smoothly, and I did the upgrade using the procedure described in the Slackware documentation.

Thankfully, the upgrade went well, and now I have 12.1 running on phoenix. Overall it feels really good, and even faster. The only serious problem I’ve seen so far is that since Slackware 12.1 offered so much more libraries, my tiny hard disk is becoming low on free space. Oh well…

Reading several Internet news media, it is apparent that KDE has gotten a lot of heat recently from several quarters. The main issue seems to be the KDE 4 release and its buggy-incomplete quality, and the fact that several distributions rushed to place KDE 4.0.x as a replacement of KDE 3.5.10, something which clearly was never intended to be.

To get the facts clear, Groklaw put a page explaining several myths about KDE. This is recommended reading, and helps a lot to dispel several criticisms made to KDE in general.

But the best thing is that today KDE 4.1 was released With this release, several concerns were addressed, and in general it looks like a promising desktop. For starters, Kontact (the PIM Suite) and the printer applet are back! However, there are several apps regarded by many people as essential, such as amaroK, Koffice, and Krusader, that are in alpha status yet. Yet, with PIM and printing working, it will be an usable desktop again.

Once again, I had the privilege of helping with the Spanish translation of this release. I plan to download the tarballs and start compiling ASAP. Let’s see if KDE lives up to the hype this time.

I already said once that in Paraguay there’s a saying that goes like, “In Paraguay there are just two seasons: summer, and fishing…”, meaning that besides the scorching heat of summer, all other seasons are just practical jokes of Nature.

Yesterday I was thinking precisely about that. We were in the midst of winter (remember, I am in the Southern Hemisphere), but we had a heat wave that was lasting over a month. Last night was especially warm; at 20.00 (8pm), the temperature was 29.6 C, or 85.3 F. The air was dry, but it was hot nonetheless.

However, there is a trait of our “wintertime hot days” that is completely different from summer: these days are dry. Yes, dry. Weeks, and weeks, and weeks, without any hint of rain or humidity. Sometimes is convenient (like when you hang your clothes to dry them off, and they are dry in a matter of mere hours), and sometimes isn’t (like when you see dust clogging every pore of your skin).

But you also see something else: dried Lapacho flowers and leaves everywhere. Walk around the streets of Asunción, and you will be treated to a beautiful scene: tall, imposing trees, covered in nothing but pink flowers. It is truly a sight to behold; I am never tired of seeing those beautiful Lapacho trees showing their colors. And below, there is the bed of dried leaves and fallen flowers, crackling under your steps…

Lapacho is a tree that does not flower in spring; it shows its flowers in middle or late winter. Common wisdom is that for Lapachos to flower, they must undergo a period of cold climate followed by a short period of warm weather. This is exactly what happened in June, so they began to flower, and amaze us with their splendor.

Last night we had a thunderstom followed by heavy rain and a drastic decrease in temperature, which now is around 14.5 C/58 F; a sorely needed relief. But Lapachos are still in the height of their splendor and beauty.

So, come with me; let’s have a walk on some quiet street of my city, and watch how some Lapacho flowers crumble on the floor, and some others bloom near the eternal blue sky, while we talk and drink tereré…

Photo: Lapacho Tree across from my house, by Webshots.com user cuddley3. Click on the photo to see a larger image.

I need a hammer. A Really Big Big Big Bad Hammer(TM), and also Some Things to Crush In a Fit of Anger. While moderating my ever-increasing spam comments, some perfectly good and legitimate comments (especially those from Tom Di Giovanni) went down the drain, mistakenly classified as spam. My mistake, and my apologies to those affected.

This makes me think again about how uncomfortable the moderation system became since WordPress 2.5. I upgraded to 2.6 yesterday, but the “improvements” (?) in the comment system are still there. Arghhh…!!! where’s my hammer???

Some days ago my boss, Rev. S., had a serious talk with me. He gave me some not so good news. Those were expected, but they were difficult news nonetheless.

Rev. S. told me that he would not seek another term as a high-ranking elected official in the denominational organization he is currently serving. That was expected; he is feeling tired, and his age is pressing him towards his retirement. And I agree; he really should retire. The problem for me, obviously, is that with Rev. S. in retirement, I will be left without a job; and Rev. S. broke the news to me that my job would end in December.

Therefore, I began to dust off my resumé, and I will start to actively seek a new job real soon now. Please pray that I could get a new, better job soon.

From the original Latin, a timely advice for rulers everywhere, from one of them that once ruled over the whole civilized world:

Deo auctore nostrum gubernantes imperium, quod nobis a caelesti maiestate traditum est, et bella feliciter peragimus et pacem decoramus et statum rei publicae sustentamus: et ita nostros animos ad dei omnipotentis erigimus adiutorium, ut neque armie confidamus neque nostris militibus neque bellorum ducibus uel nostro ingenio, sed omnem spem ad solam referamus summae providentiam Trinitatis: unde et mundi totius elementa processerunt et eorum dispositio in orbem terrarum producta est.

Ruling with the protection of God the Creator the empire that was entrusted to us by the Heavenly Majesty, we have happily finished the war, glorified the peace, and sustained the Republic; and in such a way we uplift our spirit to ask the help of the Almighty God, that we do not put our trust in arms, nor in our soldiers, nor in generals, nor in our own mind; but only in the Most Highest Trinity do we place all our hope, from where all elements of the world came, and the whole orb of the earth had its disposition born.

Emperor Justinian I, constitution “Deo Auctore”

I am 37 years old now, and way beyond my childhood; but I remember clearly how much I wanted a brother. Being the eldest son and the only boy really had its challenges back then; because Dad was always away at the office, my only companions were all women, and it sucked worse than a vacuum pump. Little did I know that life had such a surprise for me.

Warp to 2008. Dad left the family home to move in with another lady, Ms. G., and created a small crisis within my family (especially with Mom and my sisters). When I visited him this Father’s Day, he really looked much better, and happier. But the biggest surprise was meeting Jesús, a 9-year old that Ms. G. bore to him. Yikes! Now I finally have a brother!! Somehow I felt very happy, even though my kid brother is only half-brother, and born in less than desirable circumstances. He is a nice boy, extremely smart and well-behaved (like his senior brother, of course ). He is even a fan of the same soccer team than yours truly…

Going back home that day, I thanked God for my kid brother, and for unexpected joys in life. Somehow He also told me that I could be surprised even in matters where I lost all previous hope. Nice, isn’t it?

Disclaimer: I usually refrain from dealing with politics. However, given that our recent elections had such significance, and that Tom asked me for an opinion, I allowed myself an exception here. Please bear with me

Right now it’s pretty old news: Monsignor Fernando Lugo won Presidential elections in Paraguay. While it may sound incredible or fabulous, you’ve read it right: A Roman Catholic bishop is set to be our President from August 15, 2008, to August 15, 2013.

Fernando Lugo, former Bishop of the Diocese of St. Peter (located on the Department of San Pedro, the most impoverished part of the country), is also a member of the Society of the Divine Word, a religious order of the Roman Catholic church, where he held the post of Provincial (the order’s highest official in a country) for a time. Before his nomination and subsequent election as Paraguayan President, he was a well-known proponent of liberation theology within Roman Catholic circles in Paraguay.

Lugo came to power heading a highly diverse political conglomerate, the Patriotic Alliance for Change (Alianza Patriótica para el Cambio), with the 117-year old Liberal Party (PLRA) as the main political force. Other forces within the alliance were several moderate and radical left-wing parties, and other organizations and caucuses representing various sectors of the civil society.

There are several points for the analysis of our current situation:

1. My personal opinion is that the nomination and subsequent election of Msgr. Lugo is unconstitutional. There were many who thought that Lugo’s candidacy was against Article 235 No. 5 of the Constitution of Paraguay, which establishes that ‘ministers of any religion or cult’ are ineligible as Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidates. Article 235, which lists several causes of ineligibility, also states a procedure to become eligible in some specific cases, and the ministerial condition is notably absent among them. Lugo ‘resigned’ to his ministerial status and then he claimed he was eligible for candidacy, but the Vatican rejected his peculiar ‘resignation’ and instead applied him the canonical sanction of a suspension a divinis. For the Vatican and for any Catholic, Lugo still is a bishop; therefore his candidacy goes straight against the spirit of the law and clearly against the letter of it.

Of course, Lugo could have become eligible had he chosen instead to resign to Catholicism, becoming something else (i.e., Evangelical, Muslim, Jew, non-religious, etc.). You cannot be a minister of a religion you’re not a member of. But for Lugo that would have meant losing his special aura as a bishop and spiritual guide for Catholics (85% of Paraguayan population), thereby hampering his chances to be elected into office.

The question was not settled. His main rival, the Colorado Party, chose not to object to his candidacy, partly because it was pretty sure it would win the elections, and partly because its President also happens to be the country’s President, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, and Mr. Duarte’s candidacy to the presidency of the Colorado Party was even more inconstitutional (forbidden by the Article 237; the President of the Republic must devote himself to his duties in full exclusivity, and holding any other office, be it public or private, is forbidden).

So, the legality of Lugo’s entry into office is doubtful at best. Because of that, I did not even consider voting for him; but now we are facing the consummated act, so all I can do is hope that Lugo do a good job as a President.

2. This election puts an end to 61 years of uninterrupted rule by the Colorado Party. The people was sick of seeing how Party officials and their elite were letting the country crumble under the weight of the widespread corruption, illegality, clientelism and, especially, failure to respect the lofty ideals of our country and letting its image and political weight among the nations of the world to be reduced to almost nothing. One of the key points of Lugo’s campaign was, for example, the re-negotiation of the Itaipú Treaty (1973). This treaty gave birth to the enormous Itaipú dam, but the Treaty is widely criticized among several sectors of our society because it is perceived as being extremely favorable to Brazil, the 800 pound gorilla lying east of our country. In short, Paraguayans said at the ballot boxes that they want respect: They want to feel worthy of respect, to respect themselves, and to be respected by others.

3. While many see Lugo as part of an alleged turn of Latin American governments to the left, in line with the colorful leaderships of Chávez in Venezuela, Ortega in Nicaragua and Correa in Ecuador, my opinion is that this is not correct. Lugo himself may have some affinity with those governments; but he was clear when he said that he wanted to create his own way of exercising the Presidential office. Moreover, remember that the main political force supporting Lugo is the Liberal Party, a party that is perhaps the most old-style conservative/libertarian political force in the country. The fact is that we will have to wait and see how Lugo conducts his administration.

4. The election is a severe blow not only to the Colorado Party, now ousted from power, but also to its President (with leave of absence) and current President of the Republic, Mr. Nicanor Duarte Frutos. Duarte Frutos came into office in 2003 with the support of many Paraguayans, who had high hopes that he would help steer the country out of the dreadful situation it was in, after the disaster that was the González Macchi administration (yes, we almost touched the bottom with that one). Duarte Frutos did some good things, and he was an able administrator. But he chose to focus himself in Party petty politics instead of giving more attention to the serious troubles of our country. Meanwhile, extreme poverty grew, and social ills were not treated effectively.

5. One of the most painful things that Paraguay has to endure is emigration, and this fact helped to get Lugo elected. A lot of people, especially women, began to seek in Spain, Argentina, and other countries, the opportunities that were denied to them in Paraguay, while high Party officers became richer and richer, flaunting their opulence amidst the rampant general poverty. An enormous number of middle and lower class families took the hit of emigration, becoming single- or no-parent families. Divorces and separations grew high, and child behavior became problematic in both the family and the school context. Forced economic emigration is right now a major pastoral concern for both Evangelical and Roman Catholic churches in Paraguay. I have seen the effects myself; my own sister-in-law, holding an advanced degree in mathematics, and a member of one of Paraguay’s most traditional families, is right now working as a maid in Madrid, Spain, scrubbing floors and babysitting children.

The phenomenon of emigration began to increase in force in the last years of the González Macchi administration, and took off under the Duarte Frutos government. When asked about emigration, all that President Duarte Frutos managed to say was that migrations were a global, widespread phenomenon, and that most families affected were middle class, and not poor, and the whole issue was not so important. This ill-advised outburst from President Duarte Frutos is, in my opinion, one of the major determinants for the Colorado Party’s fall from office. Just think how a lonely child whose mom is scrubbing floors in Europe for some petty Euros would feel when his President told him that the particular phenomenon that tore down his family world was “something of lesser importance”. The remark was much more than an insult; it added to the pain of the dismembered families, and created widespread resentment against Duarte Frutos and the Colorado Party.

6. However, we must also give some credit to our current President, Mr. Nicanor Duarte Frutos. He did some things right; and in many aspects his administration was a definite improvement over previous Colorado administrations. The problem was that the improvements were not enough. Moreover, he held free elections, electoral fraud was remarkably absent, and he conceded defeat and showed his disposition of turning office to Msgr. Lugo in an orderly way. This fact alone is of historic significance: For the first time in the whole history of Paraguay —171 years as an independent country and nearly 300 years as a Spanish colony— we will witness a peaceful change in ruling political parties or groups. Just think that the Colorado Party came into power in 1947 after a full-blown civil war, and you will understand how deeply significant is this change. And we must charge it to Mr. Duarte’s credit.

So, despite many objections, let’s hope that times will change for the better in our country. Please pray for that; I will appreciate it!

This is a sad story of how a state-owned monopoly can hinder the flow of information to the public even in a supposedly free country.

The state-owned Paraguayan Communications Company (COPACO) has a firm grip on the Internet connectivity of most Paraguayans. This is because COPACO acts at two levels: (1) at the “provider” level, COPACO has the monopoly and sole exploitation of all international fiber-optic Net connections. COPACO then sells bandwidth and connectivity to local ISPs; and (2) at the ISP level, because COPACO is one of Paraguay’s largest ISPs. It is the only one that provides decent, cheap and reliable ADSL connectivity.

Presidential elections are just around the corner, on April 20, and the election climate is hot. Yesterday, COPACO began redirecting some pages that are critical of the Paraguayan government and some officials. This redirecting was done as a DNS hijacking procedure, and all ISPs who had COPACO’s DNS servers as authority were victims.

The domains affected were:

www.partidocolorado.org
www.victorbogado.com
Both of them redirected to the official Colorado Party website.

www.bastacar*jo.com
www.patriaquerida.com
Redirected to porn websites.
(Note: I apologize for the language in one of the domains, which contains Spanish profanity)

Forensic evidence, I am told, is available here. I didn’t check the contents, yet.

Finally, some friends told me that the whole DNS hijacking was logged and notarized by a public notary, and ICANN was already notified.

As I said, as sad story, and I hope, a story that would not happen again.

I cannot believe how fast March went down the drain. One day, and we were just on the beginnings; and the other, and it’s the 31st!.

Several things happened during this month in my life. The most important change is that my dad fell suddenly ill with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized. After being discharged from the hospital, Dad chose to leave the family home and move in with a woman who is the mother of a 9-year old brother of mine. I feel sad for that; but then, Dad is happy and I just want the best for him.

In other news, I managed to upgrade all my WordPress sites to version 2.5. The upgrade looks all right, although the comment moderation page looks to me as something much more cumbersome and bothersome (try to moderate in batches of 25 when you receive spam in excess of 150 comments a day). So, this upgrade is not as “recommended” as it should. Take it with the mandatory ton of salt.

I still lack an Internet connection, so posting will be more scarce than it should. But this is a temporary situation, and I hope to update this blog more often.

And, last but not least, Happy Easter! The Lord is risen!

Whoa! February was quite a month. Right now I am without stable Net access (again…) and this is slowing down my posting and Net activity, but this month was otherwise busy.

One of the highlights of this month was that I was able to play with KDE 4. I was amazed by it, and impressed by its ability to run on my seriously underpowered workstation. It’s a great promise for the future. My advice for now: Don’t use it… yet. Wait until some key components are ready (I have kdepim and the printing system especially in mind). Until then, stick with KDE 3.5.x.

See you in March!

As I was waking up this early morning (oh my goodness, how I hate mornings!) I turned the TV on to check on the weather and the morning news. Then I saw it: a TV spot for notebooks… followed by other spot from a local supermarket chain highlighting its new sale on notebooks, pencils, uniforms, and school supplies, followed by another, and so on.

February is the month where schools begin their classes here. I remember a vague, horrific sense of dread thinking that those beautiful, hot, humid and lazy summer days were doomed to an end: ugly, hot, humid, busy school days were closing fast. I hated school and I still don’t like schools; I am glad that school it’s over for me. But those ads still unnerve me…

High summer is here with us to stay. This week we had to endure highs around 38 C (100 F) and lows of 28 C (82 F). Add to this a fairly high amount of humidity and imagine what we had to endure (Louisiana residents, and perhaps those of Florida, know what I’m talking about). The walls are hot, tapwater comes out HOT, and you are drenched in sweat in no time. Thank heavens for air conditioners and swimming pools!

But what really breaks my heart in summer is mangoes. We have two mango trees in our home. They give us wonderful shade… and tons of fruit. The mango fruit is delicious; but our two trees produce fruits in industrial quantity, enough to feed an army. We enjoy them; but there’s only so much we can eat, and we must leave the rest just to rot on our yard. How sad! A delicious fruit, rich in fat, sugars, vitamins, minerals, you name it; a fruit that is considered a delicacy everywhere in the world, and Paraguay is producing it in quantities enough to carve a serious dent in the world hunger problem. Right now, Asunción is ripe with tons and tons and tons of rotting mangoes. How sad…

But this also remind me of our Lord’s blessings. Here I am, living in a place where I just must reach my hand if I need something nutritive to eat. A true cornucopia. Thank you, Lord, for your wonderful provision and blessing.

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.
Malachi 4 [show]Malachi 4 The Great Day of the LORD [4:1](1) "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. [2]But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. [3]And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts. [4]"Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules(2) that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. [5]"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. [6]And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."(3) (ESV) Footnotes 1. [4:1] Ch 4:1-6 is ch 3:19-24 in the Hebrew 2. [4:4] Or 'and just decrees' 3. [4:6] The Hebrew term rendered 'decree of utter destruction' refers to things devoted (or set apart) to the Lord (or by the Lord) for destruction
:2a (ESV)

I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, full of blessings, happiness, joy, and fellowship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And especially, may the Sun of Righteousness shine on your lives, filling them with His splendour and light.

(Photo: Rising sun over the Paraná River near Encarnación, Paraguay. Photo taken by Pilgrim).

From today’s Daily Office:

Lord God, King of the Universe,
you show the bright glory of your reign
in acts of mercy and enduring love:
raise the spirits of the downcast
and restore those who have fallen away,
that your Church may continually sing of your saving help;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Amen, indeed.

I closed the gate of my office building, and started to walk to my mom’s place, where I would spend my lunch hour. The day was glorious: cloudless sky of a piercing blue tonality, soft breeze, and no noises save for the usual chirping sounds of bugs and birds. There was no other person in sight.

Then it happened. A soft tune emerged from one of the homes. It was a violin, playing on its low registers, sounding amost like a viola. The player was skilled, and played some typical Paraguayan folk tunes such as «Ñemity», «Lejanía», and «Nda recói la culpa». When the player finished one of the tunes, I could hear some muffled clapping sounds of applause.

What a beautiful moment! A truly reminder that there is something deeper amidst the cachophony of our lives. Thank you, Lord, for this and other signs of Your care for us.

This has been a very stressful month. I was lost in a maze of things to do, reports to draft and translate, church administrative sessions and several meetings.

Thankfully, we were able to conclude our administrative session on November 18th, with a good spirit of fellowship and cooperation among the members. I didn’t stay for the session; I just felt that it was better to skip it. However, I couldn’t be able to escape its effects: I was selected as a member of a committee tasked with reviewing the Bylaws and our internal organizational scheme. Pretty interesting, right?

This time was also very difficult for me, personally and emotionally speaking. At times my own reality was nothing short of harrowing. But I was, and still am, being upheld in prayers by two very close friends of mine; and slowly, slowly, I am picking up my pieces. To them (they know who they are) and to everyone who offered a kind word of understanding and appreciation to me during this time: Thanks! And thanks be especially to our Lord and Father, who was always there with me.

I would also like to thank Steve and Simon, the two brethren behind Oremus, an excellent website that offers the Daily Office. There were times when I was completely unable to utter even the simplest prayer on my own; in those trying times, the structured discipline of prayers, collects and readings got me through and helped me in my personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s hope things get better on now; surely there is plenty of work to do. For starters, I have to sit on a meeting this Sunday at 6pm. Just great. But our church needs me, and I will try to do my best.

To my American readers: Have a nice Thanksgiving in the company of your loved ones!

P.S.: Pssst, I am looking at you now… just don’t be scared, I don’t bite

This prayer struck me as especially timely:

Touch and heal all those whose lives are scarred by sin
or disfigured by pain, that, raised from death to life in Christ,
their sorrow may be turned to eternal joy.
Lord, have mercy.

This is also my prayer. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Word on last Sunday’s administrative session wasn’t good. There were several incidents among disgruntled brethren and the view was not particularly edifying. Many members just forgot they were there to conduct the Lord’s business, and resorted to tactics more appropriate of old-time political bosses. Needless to say, our administrative session was interrupted, and we plan to continue it on November 18.

This last week was also hectic on the work front, but things promise to improve in the next few weeks. Let’s see what happens.

I still don’t know the outcome of my church’s administrative session that was planned for today. I went to the 8:00am service and promptly left afterwards. Rev S. told me that the session was planned for 11:00am. Let’s hope it was good. Dinner was delicious; we enjoyed some barbecued steak and salads. I spent the rest of the day surfing and reading; all in all, a great day.

I would like now to share with you some great, timely posts related to events on October 31.

Reformation Day. Tim gives us two excellent pieces on the subject, written in OfB.biz:

1. My friend and namesake Ed Hurst wrote in 2006 a drastic, but well-deserved, indictment of Evangelical Christianity: “We need a reformation.” He explains:

Within the Evangelical Protestant community today, we are very nearly in the same place which broke Luther’s heart. We have an informal hierarchy. The highest vestments are based on talents more suitable to television and marketing. It’s all about the packaging; no one seems to care much about the content, our declarations notwithstanding. We do not need another dynamic leader; we need spiritual direction which points to Jesus Himself. Forget the CDs and DVDs, the books and programs. We don’t need more information, a new explanation, or another touchy-feely experience. We need a fresh examination of the same eternal truths, a fresh commitment to what we already know. If the primary complaint is boredom, maybe we need more people actually reborn and changed by the miracle of God bringing to life a dead soul.

2. Tim himself wrote this year’s piece on Reformation Day. He speaks in an irenic note, but his advice is no less drastic: Reformation Day should be a yearly reminder to check our beliefs. He goes on to consider the meaning of Reformation Day in a Church rightly concerned with the cause of Christian unity. From Tim’s insightful piece:

The Reformers, well aware of the need to be conscious about our theology and to always realize our potential for corruption did not seek a static church, but rather the “ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda:” the church reformed, always reforming. This is the key lesson of the Reformation: the people of God should be diligent in seeking to be reformed by the will of God. Whether or not you agree with Luther’s particular grievances in their entirety, this remains the central principle that everyone ought to take to heart.

Halloween. Jared of Exultate Justi fame presents a reposts of two classic posts on Halloween. Jared writes with wisdom, charity, intellectual rigor, and he is backed by good research. His first post deals on why he was wrong about Halloween, and the second is a great piece on what’s fundamentally wrong with horror-oriented entertainment. You can read both pieces in his archive. As Jared insighfully asks: “While it may be a sick world, do we really need to wallow in the filth?”

Yes, you are allowed to bring your special comfy armchair, your beverage of choice, and your classical music playlist. Enjoy!

Things down here are hectic, which sadly it means business as usual. The unexpected passing of Rev. M., our late senior pastor, still has some fallout for us. There is just too much to consider, too much administrative stuff, it’s just mind-boggling. We have an administrative session scheduled for tomorrow where we must elect officers and consider the 2008 budget. There is tension among the brethren, but we are also confident that God will help us through these testing times. Please pray for tomorrow’s session and its outcome.

Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! (Job 19:21, ESV [show]Job 19:21 [21]Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!
)

When you are up to your nose in emotional pain, the only thing that might keep you sane is the support of your friends. And this is a gift from God.

This past weekend I was recovering from some painful days, but God allowed me to meet with Mrs. B., a longtime friend from mine. She listened carefully to me, and offered me comfort and joy. To top it off, herhusband challenged me to a Halo deathmach :). I wasn’t in the best of shapes, but I laughed and forgot about my personal issues for a little while. A true display of God’s grace.

Thanks, O Lord, for our friends, for they are a mirror of Your kindness and mercy to us.

“Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.” (Proverbs 27:9, ESV [show]Proverbs 27:9 [9]Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.(1) Footnotes 1. [27:9] Or 'and so does the sweetness of a friend that comes from his earnest counsel'
)

If everything goes well, I might start swimming practices as early as tomorrow. This will be quite a challenge, since I am used to swim in pools of half the Olympic length; i.e., 25 m (27.34 yd) since the Olympic length is 50 m (54.68 yd). However, I look forward to my swim, and I am thankful for the opportunity; otherwise, exercise would mean producing liters and liters of sweat in our summer-like temperatures, with incredible levels of discomfort. Let’s make a splash!

Most of you know what I think of current worship practices in church. My disagreements on that area are mostly philosophical, aesthetic and methodological. However, sometimes it is just plain old incompetence what gets you.

Two Sundays ago, I went to our church service. The worship (or what passed for it) was directed by a certain lady. Everything was truly awful (as usual), but then things sank to a new low. She called for Hymn #370. I searched in my hymnal and thought “wow, that is great. An Old German choral by Gebhart.”

However, the music started and something was awfully wrong. The music was completely different! Searching, I found out that the music was in fact that of Hymn #217, which is the exact same lyrics but with a completely different music. Even worse, the worship group even got the melody wrong and repeatedly made mistakes!

What became evident is that not only the directing lady didn’t know anything of even basic music reading; the whole worship group didn’t know the first thing of score reading as well. Awful, just awful.

I continue experimenting with themes. This is Fluid Blue 1.5, a great theme by Srini. The big merit of this theme, in my opinion, is its resemblance to the old Blue Theme. Maybe this is a keeper

I managed to upgrade to WordPress 2.3. This is a pretty serious upgrade, and for the first time it comes with native tag support!

Because of this I also decided to change theme. After years of using the excellent and sober Blue Theme 1.0 by Alex King, I am tentatively switching to the Unnamed theme by Xu Yiyang. This is a great theme that greatly resembles the old Blue Theme while supporting the latest WordPress features such as widgets and tags.

Meanwhile, all the info you saw on my previous theme will be gradually migrated to the new, improved theme.

So far, I find the new WordPress very good. Upgrading is recommended.