Exaltar te ei

This past Sunday was a powerful reminder of how we can worship God in another language. The exact phrase that had so much power was "exaltar te ei, o Senhor" which translated means "I exalt you, Lord." We sang this over and over and it was a sweet time where the Portuguese language penetrated my heart and reminded me that God hears and loves praise and adoration in each and every language.

It's a great thing when we can sing in another language and be moved....or hear the pastor preach about the goodness of God and feel your soul resound with the rightness of the phrase. I am finding myself moved by these words and thankful that God has given us the capacity to learn different languages and be able to share His hope with people here. Each day reminds me how important language learning is to the Gospel---as we share in the heart language of the people it connects in ways that a foreign language will never be able to accomplish. It just makes sense in people's heart when the things about God are presented in a way they can understand. Although many people do speak English very well here, we make every effort to start and keep things in Portuguese.

As you think of us over the next month or so pray for our language learning. We will both take a big test on May 26th that will be over the B1 level, which if passed, let's us finish up full time language learning. There are 4 parts to the test (two are written, one listening, one talking) and we need to score satisfactory (but pray that we'll score a muito bom!) in order to pass. This is a big deal as we transition out of full time language and take yet another step towards fulfilling the work that God has put before us. Obrigado! Ate ja!

Discovering Food

So far my favorite part of discovering Portugal has centered around food. It's amazing how many different kinds of food you can eat. I'm convinced this is a great way to culturally understand the country and culture, but not very good on my need to watch my weight!

So far I've been pretty blown away by the pastries and bread here. My favorite activity of late is to go to the bread store at certain times and get hot, fresh bread or a pastry. On most of our day trips out to cities either north or south of Lisoba, we'll stop at the bread store and buy some bread and cheese before heading out to explore a new location.

On Wednesday I was so proud of myself because I went to the butcher and ordered meat. We had bought a new crockpot (score!) and we wanted to try to make some kind of a roast with potatoes and carrots. I ended up ordering what I thought was the right amount---so we've been eating through a kilo and a half of meat over the past couple of days......who knew that a kilo and a half was a ton of meat?

We truly haven't found anything that we don't like--which makes our exploration of Portugal both exciting and tasty. Ate ja!

Obama's rock

Obama's recent comments about the economy made me think. He quotes the NT and says "We must build our house upon a rock." Although I agree with the statement, I disagree with how Obama has intended it to be interpreted. In my opinion, Obama is comparing the rock in the parable with the US economy; meaning that our financial woes will be fixed if we build them on a solid economical foundation. Although I'm sure a solid financial base is good for future economic practices I'm not convinced that the rock Obama is thinking about is the rock that the Bible talks about.

The rock in the NT reference is nothing short of Jesus Christ. There is no other meaning. It doesn't mean a strong financial base, a moral base, or philosophical base. It simply means that if one builds his/her life on the rock of Jesus then the storms will not avail its structure. Although I'm sure Obama's speechwriter thought the quote would deeply connect with the Americans hearing it, I'm rather confident that the reference actually takes away what the Biblical interpretation demonstrates. And therein is the problem with American spirituality and politics. From what I can see there is a lack of committed spirituality on Obama's part and a clear desire to use whatever spiritual context available in order to advance his agenda.

This type of hermeneutics is simply dangerous. It's more popular than ever nowadays to take whatever works for you from the Bible and completely turn it around. Although I do hope Obama is successful at turning the tide of the American economy, I hope it's not at the expense of reinventing a new meaning for a biblical phrase.

Easter Prep

Each year we get out the Easter Eggs and talk about the story. Our eggs, however, are a little different. Instead of the normal store-bought eggs my mom (long before the store eggs) came up with the idea to tell the Easter story with the 12 eggs and special items--so, for instance, we have real thorns in ours, real perfume, real nails and such. The girls absolutely love the eggs and can tell the entire story without my help. It's a great way for all of us to get ready to celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

The view from here....

Yesterday we drove down to Setubal and Sesimbra, two small cities south of Lisbon. The picture above is from Setubal at the castle overlooking the bay and a small inlet called Troia. We actually caught a ferry across the bay to Troia and played on the beach you can see in the picture. We ate dinner at a restaurant overlooking the bay at Sesimbra and had fresh seafood caught that day. Hannah got lobster, I got a combo platter of all kinds of different fish, our friend Caroline got a grilled fish and the girls settled for pork strips and french fries.

It was an amazing day full of unplanned adventure and taking in the amazing sights of Portugal!

The universal expression

We went to Coimbra (a town about 2 hours north of Lisbon) and visited Portugal dos Pequinitos this past Tuesday.....it's a quaint museum type place for kids where there are miniature houses and castles for kids to explore.....anywho, I found this sign on the front of one of the houses and thought it was interesting how the same expressions are found in every language it seems. Can you figure out what this particular expression is? Hint: Today vs Tomorrow.