Norris Family News

A Day at Agua Viva

(This was mostly written July 31, 2006)

Over the last year IFM has taken probably a dozen outreach teams to the Agua Viva men's drug rehab facility. We have also visited as a family many times; to visit the animals on the ranch and to deliver gifts from various teams. Agua Viva "El Rancho" is an awesome place. It's an oasis in the desert with trees and shade, animals, and spacious grounds for outdoor games. But the greatest thing about it is that it is filled with men who are eager to talk about the Lord Jesus. Of course the interest varies from man to man according to their circumstances. There are always some new men who have just detoxed or are in the process. Generally they don't know the Master, but they know that He is all about the place and so they are willing to talk about Him anyway. But at the core, there are dozens of men who have met Jesus, or are close to doing so. So what more blessed place is there than one in which people have a palpable hunger for the Words of Life?

For many months I had wanted to spend some focused time at the place, not bounded by the time and activity constraints of the larger groups. Also over the months, many of us have been impressed with the zeal of the men, but also struck with some gaps in their understanding. I hesitate to say that because it is certainly not my intention to come in as the Big White Educated Know It All, but rather God showed me several men who had basic questions about the bible such as, "Is it trustworthy?" "Why should I spend time reading it?" and "Is it relevant?" There are a few brothers there who have discovered the wealth of the Scriptures and have developed a hunger for it, spending their spare moments getting to know His Word like a good friend. A typical day at Agua Viva has five chapel services, chores, meals, and a small amount of free time in which some read, some play soccer or handball, and others visit. After an awesome conversation in which a skeptical man was asking those questions about the bible, I became burdened with the desire to spend some time teaching them about the bible itself and the privilege they have of being able to devote large amounts of time studying it.

So in late July I spent the entire day with my brothers at Agua Viva. Their first chapel service, the first of five, is at 7am so I had to leave our house at 5:30am to get there in time! I had prepared three "lessons" about the bible which I was able to share in three of their chapel services. The first was a study of the bible itself through a series of statements all starting with "If God wrote a book, it would..." For example, if God wrote a book, we would expect it to be supernatural, and so we looked at the gloriously fulfilled prophecies about history and the Messiah. We covered many topics such as the authorship of the various bible books, their transmission and preservation through the centuries, archaeology, history, science, and the timeless and culture-neutral nature of the message. The lesson was long but I only noticed one man in his late 50's who seemed to doze once. The rest were attentive and focused. At the end of the time, we had established that the Scriptures are the awesome Word of God. Praise God!

The next lesson was entitled, "Every Christian Must Study the Bible." This lesson was the sweetest since it was mostly reading from the Word itself. I was working through a translator so I asked the men to read the portions of scripture out loud in Spanish. It was so refreshing to feed together on Words of Life. There was a new believer there named Antonio (please pray for Antonio!) who was clearly struggling. During the worship time God impressed upon me the parable of the sower in relation to the delicate position of this particular new believer. So we started the lesson by reading the entire passage from Matthew 13. From there we went to Psalm 1 which says that we will be firmly planted if we meditate on His law day and night. Clearly the man who devotes himself seriously to the Scripture will be good soil in which an unshakable tree will grow. Antonio was greatly affected by the message, so I know it was God who prompted me to add that at the last minute.

The last lesson was very short and was about forms of literature. It is based on some ideas from some dear friends of ours who are bible translators. I had examples of many different things such as a hand-written letter, a history book, a song book, an auto repair manual, etc. Many of the men looked at me funny at first, but they got the point quickly as I explained how differently we would read each of those kinds of literature, and how each piece of literature presents immediate clues to us about audience, intent, etc. We then went through the various books of the bible to see how they are distinct works that are grouped into various forms of literature. Simple examples would be to contrast the gospels with the psalms, or the letters to Timothy with Leviticus. By the end of the time, I think the men had a much clearer picture of the bible and how to read it.

We had hours of great discussion and fellowship afterwards. It was an incredible privilege to talk with them. For example, one young man came to me and asked, "Sometimes I don't feel like praying. What's wrong with me?" The Lord gave me a cool analogy on the spur of the moment. I asked him what 2 + 2 is. He said, "Four." I asked him if the answer was the same when he was happy and sad. He said, "Of course it is." I said, "That's right, because it's true. Truth is not affected by our emotions or our circumstances." (As an aside, I love the discussion between Aragorn and Eomer in Tolkein's The Two Towers where Eomer asks Aragorn how he should make decisions in such a perilous time with so many strange things going on. Aragorn answers that Eomer should choose as he always would because right and wrong are the same for men, dwarves, elves, etc. and peril does not change truth.) I went on to encourage him that our need to pray and read the scriptures is true no matter how we may feel at the moment. Our emotions will often follow if we will simply obey.

At the end of the evening one brother asked me, "Why do you come here? Why would you want to spend time with guys (i.e. losers) like us?" Wow, what an opportunity that was to express the love of God! Blinking back my own tears I explained how he (and I by implication) is precious in God's sight, created on purpose and for eternity. I explained how great God's love is for him and for me and how that love motivates me to do anything. It was a perfect opportunity to explain the essence of the gospel. Praise God! Praise Him!

--Thaine