Amigo de Dios & Other Things

There are plenty of cultural cues to follow here and while I catch some of them I also forget some of them. Last Monday while Maria, Daniel and I were at their guitar lessons we were served coffee and cookies. As I finished my cup of coffee Maria sat down beside me and whispered, “Dad it’s not polite to drink all of your coffee. It says that they did not serve you enough. You should have left some in the bottom of the cup.” Good point, thanks Maria - but what should I do? Then the answer was clear, the second cup that hadn’t been touched. So at the appropriate time we spooned some of that coffee into my cup and saved the day. The things we do to meet cultural norms.

We have come to realize that we are very simple people who have a very great God. We were reminded of that last week when a student referred to Diana as “mujer de Dios” (woman of God) and a teacher called me “amigo de Dios” (friend of God). What did we do to receive such compliments? I’m not sure, but I am certain that it had far more to do with His penetrating power in their hearts than it had to do with us. What a relief, what a freedom, what a God!

The July 2nd election between Lopez Obrador (Democratic Revolution Party) and Felipe Calderon (National Action Party) was the closest Presidential election in Mexican history. Of the 41 million votes cast Calderon won by 244,000 votes or less than 0.6 percent. Obrador claims that Calderon’s party stole the election by buying, bribing and intimidating voters. He is calling for a full recount and for millions to take to the streets in demonstration. At the moment the decision is in the hands of seven judges who must constitutionally make a decision by September 6th. According to the Houston Chronicler, “The judges…face three choices: declaring a winner, ordering a recount, or annulling the vote. Each could have grave consequences.…If the judges confirm Calderon won the July 2 election, Lopez Obrador is likely to reject the ruling and stage massive protests.…If they order a recount, they risk weakening a law designed to combat fraud by prohibiting ballot boxes from being opened unless there is evidence of irregularities.…If they annul the elections, they will leave Mexico without a president-elect for more than a year, threatening the country's stability.” I have a feeling that 1 Timothy 2:1-2 might come in handy here.

You know that we live in a city right? It’s a city of a million people with lots of concrete, traffic, and vendors. So you can imagine my surprise when I turned the corner yesterday and there were two huge cows meandering down the street as though they were on the way to pasture. I’ve seen horses grazing on these same streets and people riding donkeys but this was a new one. What next?