Panama Day Two – Tour of the City

Roger and I had the first part of the day off so we decided to do some touring of Panama City. We walked a few blocks before hailing a taxi and taking the twenty minute ride down to the old Panama City ruins. Standing on the ruins of structures that were built almost 500 years ago was pretty amazing.

After leaving the ruins we walked several more blocks (hailing a taxi in Panama City is a little more difficult than you would think) before catching another cab to the Hard Rock Café for lunch and then a little souvenir shopping before heading back to the hotel.

Later that afternoon we went with the missionary to meet with a potential pastor and then we visited a local house church.

10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:10-11

If you’ve never had the opportunity to attend a worship service that is not done in your native language it is an amazing experience. The above verse came to mind as I listened to the voices of just a handful of people worship without restriction or inhibition. We sit in our sanctuaries with instruments and multimedia devices surrounded by dozens, if not hundreds of people, and we watch rather than participate.

As long as we are prohibited from worshiping by pride, prejudice or down right unwillingness we are failing to confess Jesus Christ as Lord. If He was truly Lord of my life then there’s nothing that would prevent me from acknowledging that through worship.

Panama Trip Day One – Jumped by a Monkey

I arrived in the country of Panama last night to make arrangements for our mission team that is coming down in March. While yesterday was pretty uneventful with nothing more exciting happening than traveling down here today, our first full day in country, was a pretty busy.

We started out with breakfast at the hotel where Roger, my traveling partner, spotted a monkey running by on the fence. I gotta be honest I really didn’t believe that he saw a monkey. Not that Roger would lie I just suspected that whatever he saw appeared to be a monkey to him but was actually some other kind of animal.

We left our hotel and traveled to the community of La Chorrera to meet with leaders from the local church there that we will be working with in March. The meeting was very productive and we left with a complete list of ministry activities for the week that will only need to be fine tuned a little before we arrive for the main trip.

We also booked hotel rooms in the community and checked out food options. If you are one of our mission team members reading to check in on how the trip is going let me just warn you in advance that the upcoming trip to Panama will be like nothing experienced in the past.

The craziest thing that happened to me today is actually the craziest thing that has ever happened to me in Panama. As we were walking out of the hotel tonight to go to dinner we saw Roger’s monkey on the gate that goes out to the road. When the little guy saw us he climbed to the top of the gate and looked right into my eyes. Roger had just said, “Look out that thing is about to jump on you!” when suddenly he did. So there I was in Panama with a monkey on my back. We still have three days here but it is going to be very difficult to top that moment. The adventure is just beginning!

The Attributes of God Found in Jesus Christ

Christians believe that faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is the only way to eternity in heaven with God the Father. Obviously if a person could find a way to deny that Jesus was the Son of God and that he had the attributes of God then they would be able to totally debunk Christianity.

We believe, by faith, that Jesus is the Son of God but there isn’t a lack of physical evidence either. In response to Thomas’ doubt in his resurrection demanding to see physical before he would believe Jesus replied, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29

Jesus didn’t just believe that he was the Son of God with all the power of God he actually was. The bible records that Jesus had all of the biblical attributes of God. While pundits are going to claim that the bible is irrelevant and inaccurate it should be mentioned that way of thinking is inaccurate in itself. We’ll get to that at a later time but for right now we’ll stick to the bible as the ultimate authority on identifying Jesus as God incarnate.

Attributes of God	Found in Christ
Omniscience (all-knowing)	John 16:30 the apostle John affirms of Jesus, “Now we can see that you know all things.
Omnipresence (all-present)	Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Omnipotence (all-powerful)	All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” Jesus said in Matthew 28:18
Eternality (no beginning or end)	John 1:1declares of Jesus, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Immutability (unchanging)	Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

What this means to us is that the Christ we’ve invited into our lives is the most powerful being ever. Having the power to know all, see all, overcome all and exists through all there isn’t any area of our lives that he can’t have a significant impact on. The question is, are we able to accept his Lordship by faith or do we, like Thomas, require physical proof before we believe? Regardless there is a blessing for believing, just a greater one for not requiring proof first.