The Job of Reading Job

I see it's been a couple of weeks since I posted. We had a visiting preacher with us for our one-year anniversary celebration of the new church house. Bro. Neilson Amorim, a Brazilian missionary working in the Algarve region in southern Portugal, preached for us. He came without the support of a mission board, believing that God had called him to Portugal, and that God would provide the needs of his family. He and his wife, Ester, have two children, aged 8 and 11. Our church sends him a monthly offering, and it was good for the church to get to know him, and for him to get to know the church.

Otherwise, life goes on as busily as ever. Translation work now and then, and enough responsibilities at the consulate to fill up part of each day. We did organise a Thanksgiving Dinner for about 35 Americans...it was at a restaurant, so Abbie didn't have to do any of the cooking. All those present enjoyed the food and the traditional Thanksgiving treats, and it gave Americans the chance to meet other Americans they wouldn't otherwise know.

If I were to mention a special event over the past couple of weeks, it would be an incident in the prison. (Again!) You might get the idea that the prison has a special place in my life. Well, in a way it does.

Two weeks ago I asked the two ladies who came to the women's meeting to read the book of Job. "R" from Mexico was discouraged because of what she saw was unfair treatment from the judges. Under the law, the judge could have let her go now and she would have been sent back to her home country. But the present judge refuses to apply that provision of the law, and she will most likely have to stay another year. "Not fair!" "God doesn't listen to my prayers." So I told her and the other prisoner to read Job.

I skipped the following Monday because Pastor Neilson was here, so it was only this week I returned. "R" confessed that she had started reading the book of Job and stopped at about chapter 10. She skipped to the final chapter. We continued talking for most of the hour, and I told her she should read the whole book. There are lessons to be learned in the chapters she skipped.

Near the end of the lesson she said she had a confession to make. She said she quit reading because she started seeing herself described in the Bible passage, and she didn't like what she saw. Aha! Her experience has a couple of lessons for us: (1) Like her, would that we all would have eyes to see ourselves in the mirror of God's Word. (2) Unlike her, may we realize that the proper response isn't to close the book or shut our eyes to what's revealed about us. May we have the grace and humility to seek God's forgiveness and have Him change our lives into the image of His Son.

Update on Jackie: Today she bumped into her doctor in the store and she asked about the results of her last tests. They were to have been ready a week or more ago. He said he got them yesterday and she doesn't have anything wrong with her. That is, what they were testing for (cancer in the blood) turned out negative. We praise God for that, but it still doesn't help her feel better at the moment. Pray that she will be guided to the proper doctor and specialist who can determine her problem.

The Educational Aspect of Being in Prison

One of the on-going debates that's been around a long time is whether the main purpose of putting a person in prison is for reeducation and rehabilitation or for punishment and protection of society at large. While some may go to prison and receive "vocational training" for the furtherance of their life of crime, the prisoners I talk with all say they've learned their lesson and have no intention of ever going wrong again. I pray that they are right, and it's not just a temporary attitude while they're in prison.

As for my own "time behind bars" (2 hours or so every Monday afternoon), it has been an educational experience. The mix of nationalities and languages and religious backgrounds is educational in itself. Baptist, a few; Catholic, many; Jehovah's Witness, one (that I knew of); ex-Muslims and ex-animists, a broad range of ideas that get debated in the weekly lessons. But last Monday I had a real learning experience.

Only two men came to the meeting. Oleg, one of the Ukrainians, and Usher, a native of Jamaica, most recently of London. They could not be more opposite in many ways: Oleg hardly ever speaks (he knows some Portuguese, but hardly any English)---Usher is one of those who asks the most questions and participates in the discussions; Oleg sports the typical Ukrainian haircut, a close-cut butch---Usher, dreadlocks to his shoulder blades. When I asked Usher how long he had been reading the Bible, he said he only started when he got in prison. As I asked about his religious background, it all became clear: he is a Rastafari, a term I had heard one time or another, but knew nothing about. The remainder of our time was spent learning what Usher believes as a Rastafari and even Oleg got in on the discussion. He is Orthodox and finds our evangelical approach to the Bible different, but he sits in and listens, saying little---but Usher's claim that Emperor Haile Selassie is the Messiah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords made for some interesting discussion.

The revelation of Usher's religious alignment explained why he asks certain questions, mostly centered on the Jews, Abraham, and King Solomon. It explained the dreadlocks. I asked Usher if they try to "evangelize", that is, convert others to their religion. I get the idea they don't, but Usher did say that it is possible for someone to hear the Rastafari beliefs and accept them, and even if that person didn't have dreadlocks, he would be considered to have dreadlocks in his heart. Sounds like a twisted version of "the circumcision of the heart" Paul wrote about in the book of Romans, and my heart is far from dreadlocked, I assure you.

Pray for me as I go each week to minister to such a diverse group, that I would have the wisdom to answer wisely and counsel rightly those who come to the meetings.