It was a little difficult to think of a title for this weekend’s blog. The most notable thing about the week is that nothing really notable happened. In that regard, I suppose you could call it a normal week. But if it’s practically the first one we’ve ever had, how can it be normal? No doubt, you are familiar with the expression, “It’s hard to drain the swamp when you’re up to your armpits in alligators.” Well, we did have to fight off a couple ‘gators, but I think we managed to lower the swamp level just a little bit.
The two alligators were disguised as air conditioners. I sometimes think I should do a time study to see what percentage of my time I spend on air conditioners. I suspect it is way too much. One was a very small leak in a compression fitting. That was an easy fix. The other was a bit of an oddball. The A/C fan in the office was so loaded up with fuzz that it was out of balance and sounded like it was going to destroy itself. The only hard part about that was figuring out how to dig the blower fan out of the guts of the machine so I could clean it up.
On the progress side of the ledger, we are at least half way done painting the gates at the new FM transmitter site. There are still other painting chores to do up there when we finish the gates, though. I know that doesn’t sound like a huge accomplishment, but after all the delays and distractions that have kept us away from that job, I feel like it was a major breakthrough. We were getting concerned that the gates would rust away to nothing before we got them painted.
Concerning the so-called coup, everything is quiet here in the islands. People are going about their business as usual, which sure is a blessing. The islanders do not really consider themselves to be Hondurans. The culture is that different. So, while they are interested because they know that what happens in Tegucigalpa will affect us here, they do not share the passions that stir the mainlanders.
This week I had two conversations that I just realized are tied together in a way. One was with a stranger and the other with a good friend. A young man from the power company was up near our FM site surveying the locations of all their utility poles. I learned that he is a believer and he expressed a great deal of sadness over the damage being done to people’s lives here by the drugs and alcohol. That is behind many, if not most, of the thefts around here. Yet, there is a culture of thievery that has nothing to do with chemicals. The young man said the power company had just fined a church for stealing electricity. He named the church, but I’m not about to put their name up here on the Internet for all to see. The church had tapped into the wires ahead of their electric meter.
My heart nearly stopped when he told me that a church had done this. You see, that not only reflects badly on the Lord Jesus, it taints all other people and organizations who claim to be Christian. If that church would do something like that, how do people know that Radio HRGS would not do something equally dishonest? We have been told on more than one occasion that people who know us would never trust a fellow islander or any other foreigners with their money, but they do trust the staff here at HRGS. It takes a lot of work and a lot of time to grow a reputation like that. Please pray that the Lord would not allow us or anyone else to damage that level of trust. When we share the Gospel, people need to know that we are being honest. As Pastor Paul at Oakwood Community Church so well phrased it, “If you always tell the truth, I can always believe you. If you lie to me even once, I can never believe you.”
The other conversation was with one of my best friends here on the island. He had been listening to one of our programs earlier in the week and had to miss part of it because of his work. So he called the station to get the web site where he could download the audio. When I stopped at his shop the other day to see how he was doing, we were talking about that particular radio preacher and my friend paused, looked me right in the eye, and said he didn’t know what he would do without HRGS. He goes to church – in fact he even preaches in various churches within his denomination when they need him – but he said if the preaching at his church was all he had, he would starve for lack of spiritual food.
Perhaps you are wondering how these two conversations tie together. Well, my friend attends the church that was stealing electricity. He has been thinking for some time about changing churches because of the spiritual poverty there. I do not know if he is aware of the electrical theft and fine, but I suspect that if he finds out about it, that will be the last straw for him.
As scarce as integrity is these days in the U.S., it is nearly non-existent here. I have several island friends whom I would trust implicitly. On the other hand, there is one man in particular here in our neighborhood who I think is allergic to the truth. Dishonesty is the inevitable result of not trusting God. If we trust Him, we will honor Him with the truth and trust Him to work things out. Trusting Him to meet our material needs enables us to resist the temptation to steal. Trusting Him to honor obedience will help us down the road of honesty. I have observed that one good measure of a people’s (or an individual’s) spiritual condition is the prevalence or absence of honesty. We have known for a long time that the U.S. is in desperate need of revival. It shows itself in the ever increasing rarity of personal integrity. That is doubly true here in the Bay Islands.
People fall into one of four general spiritual categories. One group consists of those who are not saved and they know it but do not know what to do about it. Another is people who are not saved and either think they are saved or do not recognize their need for salvation. A third group of people are those who are saved, but have no assurance of their salvation. The fourth and smallest group is made up of those happy people who are saved and they know it without a doubt. I don’t think there is any way to convey just how marvelous it is to be a part of a ministry that broadcasts God’s Word to everyone in these islands and on the coast, no matter which group they fall into. If you are one of our prayer or financial partners, we are grateful for your participation and I hope you can share in at least some part of the thrill we experience in telling the Good News to thousands upon thousands of listeners here and in the three countries nearest to Roatán.
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