“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”
~ Ecclesiastes 11:5
Hi James and Ellen,
Are you risk takers? Do you cautiously pursue opportunities? Are you adventure seekers? Do you play it safe with decisions? Are you impulsively generous? Do you carefully guard your pennies? Are you using common sense to make choices? Do you constantly question yourselves? Are you content kids? Do you practice anxiety? Are you finding meaning in everything that takes place to you in life – even through hard, difficult life experiences? Do you chose what to do through waiting for some sort of sign that you believe has pointed you to do whatever it is? The Ecclesiastes Book author – who probably was Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 11, candidly encourages guys, gals and kids to take risks, be adventuresome, give liberally, use common sense and enjoy life. The Ecclesiastes Book author openly advocates guys, gals and kids to just accept what may be while they are living their lives to the fullest. Your grandpaa’s opinion is that the Ecclesiastes Book author is endorsing guys, gals and kids to take a seemingly fatalistic approach to living their lives on planet Earth. Verse 5 says, “As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.” The Ecclesiastes Book author – who your grandpaa believes had a teaching gift, essentially is saying to the guy or gal who is reading his book of wisdom adages and sage vignettes that he or she is to trust in his or her Maker to set his or her life course. The Ecclesiastes Book author is rather adamant in wanting guys, gals and kids to not to have a mindset that focuses on ‘maybes’ or ‘might-have-beens’ or ‘what ifs’ or . . . but to have instead a mindset focus that always has them living their lives in the moment through recognizing and accepting how limited their potential role in life is and how restricted their ability is to gain knowledge.
Your grandpaa has been told that he is a risk taker. When a consensus decision was made in 1981 by the Bolivia South America Mission field team leadership to create and implement a Bible education and leadership training program to enable rural Bolivian guys and gals to apply Biblical truths to and in their lives and to help them to be able to teach these truths to guys, gals and kids in their communities, your grandpaa was asked by Bob Davids – the South America Mission field missionary team field director in Bolivia to meld the field team missionaries’ input into something that was doable. Your grandpaa chose a South America Mission affiliated church that is in Concepción, Nuflo de Chávez as the site to initiate the Bible education and leadership training program that evolved from the times that South America Mission field missionary team guys got together to exchange ideas and to pray and from a trip that your grandpaa made through eastern Bolivia with Raúl Pedraza. Raúl Pedraza was the A.I.E.O. president at this time. A.I.E.O. is the acronym for Asociación de Iglesias Evangélicas del Oriente. When your grandpaa – during the trip that he made with Raúl to visit the churches that were affiliated with South America Mission in Bolivia, kept hearing guys in these rural churches referring to the pending Bible education and leadership training site in Concepción as being a centro de capacitación, your grandpaa adopted that name for the Bible education and leadership training program. When your grandmaa and grandpaa left Santa Cruz for Concepción on or about January 15, 1982, one of the South America Mission field team missionaries was overheard saying that it is impossible to start a Bible education whatever by loading up two pickups with tables, chairs, food and a couple of families and . . . Harold DePaul and Bob Davids drove their pickups from Santa Cruz to Concepción. A South America Mission field team missionary – Cesar Castro, made the trip to Concepción in one of the pickups. When the two pickups arrived at the Concepción church property, Cesar took on the task of finding a place for the couple who was living in the house that is on the church property to live off the church property so that Raúl and Mery Pedraza could live in the house with their five gals. Cesar also took on finding something that could be prepared in a large pot over an open fire for everyone to eat. Cesar found a place that was selling a cow’s head which Mery cut up and fixed into a stew that was really tasty. When the centro de capacitación students arrived the next day, your grandmaa and grandpaa had the two single guys sleep on bunk beds in their kitchen and four couples with their kids – if they had any, sleep in what had been the garage, a storage area and a bedroom in the church manse – which is connected to the back of the South America Mission affiliated church that is in Concepción. In order for a centro de capacitación student to graduate, the student – with his family if he was married, needed to spend six – thirteen week trimesters, over a two year period in Concepción. Fifty guys graduated from the centro de capacitación – the Bible education and leadership training program in Concepción.
Being a risk taker is good – if taking a risk is done knowing that it is in the will of God to do. Being an adventure seeker is good – if seeking adventure is done to enjoy God’s creation. Being a generous giver is good – if giving generously is done in the name God. Being a common sense thinker is good – if the use of common sense is to please God. Being content kids is good – if reverent fear is driving you to obey God.
Ecclesiastes 11 (914)