No one ever injured their eyesight by looking to give to God and his work. RCK
A real estate agent in Rio explained to me some of the key practices of Macumba Spiritism. He said he and others at times put out offerings to the spirits at a crossroad in the mountains above the city. The purpose was to get an advantage that was often immoral or at times bordering on the illegal.
The offerings of food and drink might be more or less elaborate that this one pictured here. The parts or the whole of a black chicken in an offering were to bring special pleasure to the spirit. In the end, the offering was about getting something. Give a little—get a lot.
This statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooked the interior city of São José do Rio Preto was a copy of the one over Rio de Janeiro. The statue may mean different things but it brings to my mind the words of a Gospel song, “At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light—the burden of my heart rolled away…” Something else happens at the cross, an experience summed up in another song, “I surrender all, I surrender all—all to thee my precious Saviour, I surrender all.”
The way of surrender covers all of life and may be symbolized in baptism. This baptism I performed occurred in the interior of the State of São Paulo and in that culture and time it meant a total surrender to Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
For Doris and I, surrendering our lives meant working it out in practical ways. This was one of the Sunday School classes at our church planting project in Neves Paulista. A Bible School student from São Paulo city was giving us a hand—a trip to us of some 600 kilometers.
The final word of this blog has no picture for the conclusion will happen only in eternity. Jesus tells us that as we surrender and serve him in his work that we lay up treasures on the other shore. A wow and an amen to that.
rkennysite 