Generosity

    Last night Samir took me to a home group meeting at his friend Alexandre's home. About fifteen adults were in attendance- some marriede and some not- with a few small children. I would guess the average age around thirty. Samir shared on the grace of God with passion. Then they invited me to share as well. As happens so often I don't know the people or what they need so I depend on the leading of the Holy Spirit. He gave me Matt. 24:14  about preaching the gospel to all nations and then the end will come followed by what I believe is one of the biggest obstacles. Materialism has crippled the church in the US as Jesus predicted in the parable of the sower in Luke 8 (Matthew 13 & Mark 4). He speaks of a man who scattered seed that landed in different types of soil, using this as an analogy of someone giving the gospel message to different people. The third type of soil has many thorns and weeds which choke out the plant. Jesus refers to the riches and pleasures of this life as the thorns that choke the Word. Finally i gave them Luke 12:15 which says that a person's life does not consist in the abundance of their possessions- the exact opposite of what the world believes especially in the US. Then I appealed to them not to go the wrong way as we have done.
     One of those in attendance was a former professional soccer player who now has some business interest in the local team. He is to be baptized on Saturday. Today when Samir picked me up we were given a personalized tour of the new soccer stadium through this man's intervention. A woman from marketing showed us all around in a way that Samir assured me was not usual. Then we met this man at a local restaurant. Unfortunately I can't follow rapid, colloquial Portuguese so i missed much of this but am amazed at the generosity of a man whom I met briefly the night before and with whom i do not share a language.
   Odds & ends:  A former mayor of this city was named Thompson Flores (Flowers).
Apparently poorer homes do have shower curtains.
    Tonight i am to meet with a group of young single adults and share the Word.