The people make the party: lesson #4 from a Mexican fiesta

I have thrown exactly one authentic Mexican fiesta in my life.  What an incredible experience! Upon reflection of this party of a lifetime, I realize that the experience left me with several life lessons that I carry with me even to this day, over 20 years later.

Lesson #4- The people make the party

In recent years the word "partying" has receive some bad press.  It often refers to wild, out of control raves, which often include excessive alcohol, various forms of illegal substances and generally dangerous behavior.  In my mind these kinds of unhealthy elements actually detract from the happiness, health and fond memories that a good party would promote.

When I say "partying," I am talking about a genuine, joyful celebration.  I found that in Mexico it did not take much money or time to bring about these kinds of memorable festivities.  In fact, no amount of time, money, food or decorations could have created the desired effects.

A party is only as good as the people involved.  The joy with which my friends in Mexico helped prepare food, make piñatas, decorate, and prepare entertainment (none of which I could have even begun to do on my own) laid a great foundation for this experience.  Even more important than the physical elements, the lively and genuine interactions between the guests is what best defined our celebration.

Though everything looked, tasted and sounded fantastic, that only enhanced the most important things. It occurred to me that we could have had a great time together even without the all of the visual and culinary "extras."

Getting together to celebrate our life and relationships is not just a good idea.  It's a Scriptural command.  Hebrews 10:24-25 says this:

"Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another...."

As the original recipients of this command, the Hebrews (or Jews) were no strangers to a party.  The book of Leviticus outlines several major Jewish festivals to celebrate their godly heritage throughout the year, all coming at the instruction and ordination of the LORD.  The festivals varied in length and purpose, but every one of them had two elements in common: they all involved a gathering of people and they all celebrated some aspect of God's love and provision for them.  Several of these festivals lasted days, and even weeks.

So in a sense, God is the original party animal.  Worship in it's best and purest sense is a celebration of who God is and what God does.  While worship can and should sometimes happen privately, there can also be something so exciting and fun about sharing our lives with one another in encouraging and upbeat ways.

It saddens me to know how many people view Sunday services as an unpleasant obligation, a bore and a stress.  To me it's one of the very best times of my week.  It's not just about the music or the sermon (though I love both).  If that was all I needed, I could simply stay home and dial up recorded sermons and worship Youtube.

The party is about the people.  I refer to more that just Sunday morning formalities.  The celebration might include a midweek small group, a visit to a friend, coffee with a friend, an uplifting personal message on Facebook or an encouraging phone call.

I confess that I all too often get caught up in the wrong kind of a party, a pity party over all of the physical things that I do no possess. But God has reminded me of just how richly blessed we are in friends and family who serve as daily reminders of God's love and provision.  Truly, the more often I choose to celebrate God's gifts with loved ones, the more reasons I find to keep the party going.

Choose moments over minutes- lesson #3 from a Mexican fiesta

I have thrown exactly one authentic Mexican fiesta in my life.  What an incredible experience! Upon reflection of this party of a lifetime, I realize that the experience left me with several life lessons that I carry with me even to this day, over 20 years later.

Lesson #3- Choose moments over minutes

When I invited friends to the fiesta, I requested that they be there by a certain specific time. I thought that they understood the importance of promptness, given that this fiesta served as a surprise birthday party.  So one might imagine my dismay when only a small percentage of the confirmed guests had arrived to shout "sorpresa" by the time my friend arrived. However, all of the guests did arrive... eventually.

I also shared my expectation of a specific time when the party would end.  The party eventually began to die down about two and half hours after my initial projection.  Even the young families stayed late, with parents safely placing weary young children aside to sleep as they continued to celebrate.  The guests did not completely trickle out of the scene until after midnight.  I simply could not make them leave.  Actually, I did not want to make them leave.  Once I settled down enough to throw away my schedule, I had great fun just being with such beautiful people as we partook of the music, food and festivities into the later hours of the night.

The guests' timing should not have surprised me.  Over the month I had already spent in Mexico, I could not recall many meetings or other events that began or ended "on time."  This did not seem to bother anyone but me (and perhaps one or two of my ministry team members).  I suppose mine were the only eyes that watched the clock. 

I eventually came to realize that my friends in Mexico valued time at least as much as I did, and possibly more so.  They just measured it differently than I did.  I lived for the minutes, planning for the expected, very controlled "blessings" that could fit into my own preconceived schedule.   They lived for the moments, receiving God's blessings with gratitude as they arrived, and not quick to cut memories short or move on from times of joy and celebration.   

I am certain that when our LORD walked this earth in human form, he valued the moment far more than the minute.

The Bible does not offer any specific teachings that warn against the dangers of becoming too rigid and attached to our strict schedules.  This is partly because they did not yet have the technology to create or adhere to minute by minute planning (think sundials, not electric clocks).  In fact, there is not a single mention of minutes or seconds in the entire Bible.

When times are mentioned, they usually correspond to days, or approximate times of the day, as they relate to correlating tasks or events.  For example, the sabbath was a day of the week for rest, people began festivals on certain days of certain months, and "the 11th hour" referred to the last part of a full day's work.  But it would have been impossible to record or plan even the hours with great precision.

The Gospels does tell of several examples where Jesus would be considered "late to the party" by modern American standards.  He and his disciples arrived so "late" at a wedding in Cana that they had already run out of wine.  Yet it was just in time for his first public miracle of turning the water into wine.  He arrived days "too late" to save his his friend Lazarus from death, and yet he was right on time to raise him from the dead.  Even as a youth he lingered at the Temple in Jerusalem after his parents began their journey back to Nazareth, citing and understanding that it was more important to be about his (heavenly) Father's business.

And still there were more times when he lingered far longer that what I in my own mind might consider fashionable, or even sensible.  He spent days on the mountainside teaching and preaching to a crowd, ultimately feeding their hungering bodies with physical food after filling their spirits with the bread of life.  He "slept in" on the boat, in no hurry to rebuke the wind and waves while his disciples fought for their lives.  And yet he woke up in time to end the storm with only a few words.  He sat on a mountain and prayed for so long that even his three closest friends began to fall asleep.  And their spirits shook to life as they witnessed Christ's transfiguration and revelation as the Son of God.

Can you imagine missing moments like these simply because they do not fit into our schedule, because we had planned something else in that place?  And yet I wonder how many glory moments I have missed, or brushed aside, simply because they did not fit into my preconceived notion of what should be happening right at that time.  

I still value punctuality, probably far too much.  I do not want to let people down by being late, and I desire to be a good steward of the time God has given me.  And yet I still desire the moments, the memories above my daily structure. 

Lord, please open my eyes to those timeless moments of eternity that you offer.  May I value your gifts over my plans, your timing over my schedule, your way over my will.  I want to receive and cherish every "God moment" that you would give me.

No need to fear the knives: lesson #2 from a Mexican fiesta

I have thrown exactly one authentic Mexican fiesta in my life.  What an incredible experience! Upon reflection of this party of a lifetime, I realize that the experience left me with several life lessons that I carry with me even to this day, over 20 years later.

Lesson #2- Don't fear the knives!

As I mentioned in my last blog, the fiesta included some top notch entertainment. A local minister whom I had met had been raised in a children's home where he learned two unique skills: mariachi singing and machete dancing.  He shared both skills as part of that night's celebration.

The singing enthralled me.  The machete knives scared me, though oddly enough they also thrilled me.  The thrill kept me eyes glued to the performance.  The terror kept me from getting too close.  I felt skiddish enough around people who swing sharp objects.  This gentleman was throwing them. 

Seeing the look on my face, he jokingly swung a knife in my direction.  My reactions seemed to serve as reciprocal entertainment for the performer.

Amazingly enough, I did not die that night.  The knives did not even touch me.  Even as my new friend jested with me, he and I both knew that he was in complete control of his machetes the whole time.  In the hands of an untrained performer, the machetes would have been cause for great concern and prompt evacuation. In the hands of this expert, these same instruments became a source of joy and elation, supported by an underlying security in the fact that he knew exactly what he was doing.

If I could trust my life and my safety to a man whom I had just met, than how much more can we trust the God of the universe to manage our problems, our issues, our plans... our everything?

Seriously, we humans deal with some pretty heavy, highly terrifying issues in life.  When we trust anything or anyone but God to handle it, we honestly have very good reason for fear.  I mean, you might as well give me a bunch of heavy knives and stand close while I swing them around. I would probably either kill or seriously mame us both; or I would drop the knives and begin weeping heavily from the stress of it all.  

I am not saying that any time we mistakenly try to do things on our own we will die.  God's grace is greater than our foolishness.  On the contrary, when we lean into God's will, we have absolutely no reason to fear.  God is the ultimate master over all things, in complete control.

Here's an old faithful promise from a well know passage in Psalm 23:

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4, KJV)

A more contemporary version of the Scripture says it this way:


"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4, NIV 2011)

This is shepherding language.  Though pretty and highly useful, sheep are about as intelligent as a box of nails, and they are completely dependent upon the shepherd to guide them and keep them safe.  Though humans have higher skill and intellect that these animals, we are like a bunch of sheep when dwarfed by the immense struggles we face in life.

Fortunately, we have the greatest shepherd to guide and protect our lives, if we choose to follow.  The challenge for me, and for all of us, is to align our lives under God's care, and to rest in the fact that when through obedient faith we lean into God's grace, we have no reason to fear any of the dangers of life. 

This is a lesson that I am still learning.  It is one that I would like to master.  Who wants to live in fear of what knives might be thrown into our lives?  I want to live my life in thrilled faith, hope and wonder as I experience how God masters all of life's struggle on my behalf.  Whose with me?