San Jose, Costa Rica - Saturday Morning, 4:50 am
Audrey and I are here with the Asbury Seminary "Ascent" retreat. This morning we will be joined by as many as 3,000 Costa Rican Methodists at a rally to celebrate what God has been doing through His people called Methodists in this country. I was here in 1985 with a Volunteer In Mission team, and since then the Autonomous Methodist Church in this country has continued to blossom, primarily under the leadership of Bishop Luis Fernando Palomo and his wife Zulay. After the rally this morning, we will visit the Methodist Seminary here, founded by Bishop Palomo and now in a partnership with Asbury Seminary.
My Internet connection has been intermittent, and thus I have not blogged in several days. I have been reading through Genesis in my morning devotions, and today I have read chapters 29-30. This account of Jacob travelling to the area his mother Rebekah was from is most interesting. He is motivated to do so because his brother Esau is furious with him, and ready to kill him. At Paddan Aram, he meets Rachel, his cousin and agrees to work for his uncle Laban for 7 years in payment to marry her. Those years "seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for." At the wedding, he was deceived by Laban who gave away his older daughter Leah to Jacob, who then agreed to work another 7 years to marry Rachel.
God used all of this in making Jacob (who would later have his named changed by God to Israel) to be the father of 12 sons, who became the patriarchs of the people of God. Jacob fathered these 12 sons through his two wives Leah and Rachel, and their two handmaids, given to him as wives, Bilhah and Zilpah. It still seems odd to me that God ordained this polygamy. This is one of the mysteries I accept and hope to understand more fully in the hereafter.
Guide me today, most Holy Lord, as I celebrate with brothers and sisters here in Costa Rica the work you are doing of salvation and the advancement of your Kingdom through the people called Methodists. Amen.
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