You are the Light of the world

Imagine the horizon looking like it is seriously on fire! Something so fierce that you wonder if something supernatural is happening. Intermixed within the vibrant shades of red and orange are amazing streaks of purple and blue. It’s almost like the night and day were fighting each other. This was the few I was captured by as my plane left Ft. Lauderdale.

Over the last few days in America, I let the madness that is wanting to say goodbye to everyone while also preparing to return to a developing country interfere with my time with the Lord. As a result I felt I like the walls were closing in on me. I began questioning if I had made the right decision. In my visits with everyone, I felt loved. I started to become sad that these friendships I feel so blessed to have, would once again be tested by living abroad. In a very weird way, I started to resent God for opening these doors for me.

But as I sat down in 18A on a Spirit Airlines flight heading to Cartagena, Colombia I just started to pray. I asked our Father for forgiveness for these thoughts. I begged for grace to be every part of the man He called me to be that day. I reflected on our time together last year and how obvious that He was there every step of the way. When I was seriously struggling and feeling completely alone (not everything made the blog), He lifted me up in a way that’s hard to describe. My most amazing experience was not with the family in Santa Ana that I love dearly, nor with my students, it was the nights I would just walk around the little dirt soccer field at our school. From the amazing sunsets, the stars that felt just yards away from me, the breeze that divinely also brought peace and joy, to the almost audible voice that would flood everything part of telling me “I am with you.” Spending time in His true presence is worth a lifetime of memories.

I slipped on my IPod and began to pray along with the song by Passion called Prepare the Way. Just as the chorus “You are the light of the world” was being sung, the sun began to rise. It was one of the most beautiful and powerful things I have ever seen. The Light of the world, the King of the earth, is always going to be with this scared little kid! The God who made that beautiful spectacle I was captured by, simply wants nothing more than for me to always look at Him in that manner. And it was overwhelming in that moment that how could I not! For where I have come, what I have done, who I have been, I am simple blown away that He would send his one and only son, to die for me, so that by grace, through faith, in Christ alone, I would appear blameless in His sight.

So which leads me to say that I have returned to my home in Santa Ana, Colombia ready to simple be His hands and feet among these people. I can report that while I had an awesome reunion with “my family” and friends here in the pueblo, I am now buried in a huge curriculum overhaul project the principal sprung on us just a week out from classes. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I hammer this initiative out in before those little gremlins return. Also keep the new 8 WorldTeach Volunteers that will be arriving this Saturday on your list as well. To what I have read and heard, these kids are going to rock! We have a ton of stuff to do but I know they are going to be huge blessing to me, this school, and the community of Santa Ana!

Entonces, hablamos pronto! Dios te bendiga!

Eric

Give Us What You Got

Happy New Year!

I came across this excerpt from the War of Art on a professional triathletes blog.

Steven Pressfield is a former Marine who has written some great novels and screenplays over the years. The subtitle to this particular books is Break Through The Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles. The direction of this motivational book was to help writers overcome the imfamous "writers block" but this particular excerpt is rich in meaning to all of us.

Get past the military-like tone its written in and find it's message. I think in its roughness lies a beautiful perspective that may lead us off the bench and into the game wherever you are.

Have a great and blessed day!

E

____________________________________________________

The Artist’s Life - by Steven Pressfield

“Are you a born writer? Were you put on the Earth to be painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.

Do it or don’t do it.

It may help you to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.

You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.

Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. Its a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”

Plans for 2011...

Happy Holidays to everyone!

My dog Ellie and I are hanging out in the living room of my parent’s house in York Beach, Maine. “The Blizzard of 2010” just hit us and I as usual it was disappointing. Instead of the expected 20-24 inches we were supposed to receive, I am guessing we got about half that! But the killer is the 30-40 mph gusts that are ridiculous at the moment! They make freezing temps feel like dying temps and are a good deterrent to grabbing the sleds and trying to find a hill. So I think I will enjoy this hot chocolate, warm dog, and update my blog with some big news.

I am returning to Colombia for 2011 and beyond!

The Lord opened up a door for me to return to Santa Ana and I feel amazingly blessed for it! Here are the Top 3 reasons I am going back.

#3- Bilingual Program in Santa Ana

While I had my days where I wished a donkey would just knock me out, I really came to love teaching English at the public school! We made some decent improvements to the program and were fortunate to see some measurable outcomes in the end. However saying “adios” to my students was hard not because of the impending physical departure, but because I know there is so much more work to be done. As the new Colombian English teacher at the private school, I believe we can make this program one of the best in Cartagena! There are 8 handpicked American teachers coming to assist in this initiative and I am so excited to meet them! I know that together we are going to do some special things and I look forward to sharing the impact these people will have on these students and beyond!

#2- Community of Santa Ana

I miss my little Dayana! Can’t wait to see those precious little faces again!

While seeing this family will be a highlight to my return, I know God is going to do some things that are going to have a far wider impact. I met some great Colombian Christians’ who have a heart for the poor and underprivileged. I believe there are opportunities to work together with the local church to create some programs that can meet the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of the many in Santa Ana. Also a few weeks ago I met a group of girls from Nashville, who came to New Hampshire to do a workshop which encourages young girls to look to God for true answers to the world. We talked and there was a lot of smiling! We are praying that God opens up a way for them to possibly come to Cartagena to share this good news. This would be incredible! Lastly, while doing this particular study with my parents, I just keep getting this picture of them with me in Santa Ana. After praying about it, one of my goals this year is to create a “Seguin and friends Mission Trip” to the land of dirt and donkeys! Talking with a few of my Uncles, Aunts, and Cousins, I am asking Him to make a way for this to happen! Never mind the amazing things a group of Type A perfectionists would be able to accomplish in a developing village, I cannot wait for the looks these super tall behemoths will invoke from the vertically challenged Colombians.

#1- Colombia Grace Foundation

When I met the visiting Josh and Mike at a pastor’s conference in Cartagena, I knew it was one of those really cool moments where you just felt had greater implications. The Lord has called them and their beautiful families to move to Cartagena and start an orphanage together! As promised, I will write a blog about their testimony and journey up to this point, because it is simply amazing and inspirational. So now that they have purchased land outside of Cartagena they might be starting this journey as soon as April 2011. The time we have spent together has given me the conviction that I need to support them in whatever way He leads. As someone who feels the Lord leading me down a similar road one day, I feel absolutely blessed that they have this similar idea as well. I am really excited to see where He takes this, but I also stoked He is about to bring a bunch of people to Cartagena whom I have come to really admire and respect. In the Christian faith, you need people to look up to. While in the end we need to recognize that people are fragile and that Jesus is not, I know that in all their weaknesses, these 2 men are demonstrating Christ in a way that has been really awesome for me!

So the plan is that I’ll first be back in Nashville from January 10-14, 2011. I will be heading to Atlanta toward the end of the week to see a friend and then fly to Cartagena from there on the 16th. Would love to see many of you before I go. Let me know how we can meet up and I will be there!

Thanks for reading! To another year in the land of dirt and donkeys- Cheers!

Adios!

E

Interesting question...

I want to give a huge “gracias a Dios” for all the people who inquired further about the precious family I wrote about in my last blog entry “I am changed.” It was so cool to see God use their story to encourage you like He did in me. People have pledged to routinely pray for them. A few have asked how they could use their own blessings to support those little girls financially. One beautiful family has committed to dial down their Christmas so they can focus on giving to others less fortunate! All I can say is que bonita! I pray that you continue to move how the Lord leads you. That you have the courage to ask the tough questions when it comes to “how much we really need” and what the answer of that question could possibly mean to little ones like my precious Dayana. You all are amazing and I am so thankful for you and the support you have given!

I’m back in the United Stated of America! Woohoo!

There will surely be a blog entry detailing the Reese Peanut Butter Cup overload in the Fort Lauderdale Airport, that first cheeseburger in downtown Portsmouth, NH (thanks Lexi), and even about the 60 minute hot shower I took! Living in the developing world that is the village of Santa Ana, my level of appreciate for mundane things shot through the roof! Anyways, I'll try to rock a blog about this as well as the lovely culture shock that met me when I got off the plane.

This entry will be the answer to a question a relative asked me shortly after I returned. The question was: “So are you ready to return back to the real world?”

Before I respond, I just want to say that there was nothing malicious about this question. It wasn’t said in a manner that was mocking. I sincerely believe he knows how important my experience was in Colombia and just merely was inquiring about my future plans, in the United States.

However, as soon as he asked the question, my mind went a million places. Don’t you love how quickly our brains process thoughts!

What is the real world?

Mark Twain said: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on those accounts. Brood, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in our little corner of the Earth all one’s lifetime.”

The Kikuyu people of Kenya had an old saying that translated: “The man who has never traveled thinks his mother is the best cook.”

Relax, I don’t think everyone is called to hand in your notice at work, uproot the kids from school, and move to Africa. However, I think we need to allow ourselves to travel the world in our mind! By that I mean when you read my blog about the family in Santa Ana, did you allow yourself to see this story through the eyes of Dayana? When you hear about the an international crisis’ like we have seen in Sudan, Nigeria, Croatia, Rwanda, Darfur, Afghanistan, Haiti and about a hundred more around the world, do we stop to think about the people beyond the headlines. The millions of innocent people whose lives, whose children’s lives, were changed forever when the first bomb dropped, the first president was overthrown, the first case of AIDS was found, or the last drop of water was seen.

Ralph Winter once said: “God cannot lead on the basis of facts you do not have.” I will say that in our high speed reality, we do have these facts. Sometimes we just chose not to allow ourselves to accept them. This blog is simply encouragement to see, hear, and read things in a different light. Travel the world in your mind and allow yourself to be impacted in a meaningful way.

As I have sat praying over and over about this, I have come to believe my real world includes a country like Colombia. I think it has to. My experience was life changing and as I said from the beginning, it felt more like home each and every day. While I know for a fact that I was never a top draft pick, I believe that God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called. So in that I live and breathe and open my reality to allow God to do whatever He desires through me in this struggling country. While I will have more details about where he is leading me, I invite you all be a part of the true real world in whatever way that takes you!

Gracias a todos!

Eric

I am changed

I challenge you wherever you are to take a moment to quiet your surroundings. Close the door to your office, tell the little ones to take their game upstairs, put the Blackberry on silent. I would like to take you out of your world and into the life of someone very special to me. This is a story that has changed me forever.

You hear your Father get up before much is moving in your village. Cautious not to wake your sisters whom you share a bed with, you simply watch him search around for those same pair of shorts he always wears when he goes to work. The years he has spent fishing in the unrelenting sun has left his skin so dark that it’s difficult to see him in your windowless room. You see his thin body slide through the sheet that is the door, the sound of him picking up his bucket of sardines, and his light footsteps that have about 4 kilometers of walking until he reaches his favorite fishing spot. You love your Father and hope he has a good day.

Life was easier for your Father just 8 months ago. Instead of taking his bucket of sardines, which also possesses his spool of line and a hook, your father would grab his fishing net. You learned very quickly that a fishing net meant your Father can earn money and provide fish for supper. Today, you just hope it’s one of the two. But you’ll be ready to try and sell what he brings back though not too many people are buying from you these days. Does everyone’s Father only earn $1.00- $2.00 a day?

Your Mom gets up a few minutes after her husband leaves. You hear her cracking kindling to make a small fire on the pit behind the house. She mixes a few coffee grounds into some water and waits for it to boil. She takes a few bites of some left over rice and black beans before walking back inside to wake up your sisters. It’s time for school. There was a time when your Mom sat in a school desk with a pencil in hand, but it was short-lived and sudden. Your desires to be read to are lost in the fact that you have no books and a mother who cannot read or write. While your neighbors believe she makes poor decisions for your family, you love her regardless because she is the one who brought you into this world and also the one who can take you out of it.

The curtain rises up again and the fragile presence of your Mother enters the room. Though weak in so many ways, the strength of her hands and arms surprises you as she shakes the mattress your sharing with your Sisters. It’s time for them to go to school and for you to help Mom by fetching some water. You look up to your 14 and 13 year old Sisters but also secretly envy them as they put on their nice blue and white uniforms and march off to school. There they receive breakfast and lunch, but more importantly an opportunity to learn. While there grades are not great, they read, write, sing new songs they heard at school in English, and want to tell you about some place with cute animals called Australia. They are the only educated people in your family. When they return you feel normal again. Seeing it’s too hot to play, you all pile back onto the mattress and try and steal a nap before Mom comes calling with an errand.

The nap was a short one due to incoming storm and its cracking lightning and thunder. As you all sit up, you and your sisters notice your quietly funny 16 year old Brother packing a few things into a bag. It’s time for him to leave for your Aunts house 5 kilometers away. You wonder about the long and wet walk he has infront of him as the drops begin to hit the tin roof that covers this cement shelter. Like your Sisters, your Brother studied at the school last year. However, after finishing a year where he was literally a man among children in his 1st grade class, your Mom pulled him out of school to help family attend a farm that is owned by a rich family in Cartagena. For his hard work he is fed and housed but not paid. Your Dad explains that when we was in school “he couldn’t learn” which sounds more like a verdict than a problem. So equipped with his machete, small bag of clothes, beautiful heart, and a grim reality that he will have little opportunity to control his destiny, he fittingly sets off out into the pouring rain

Your very timid Father calls out to you from behind the house. He has returned with eight catfish looking minnows that are no longer than 8 inches. It’s been a rough day and while small and of low quality, they can be deep fried or used in soups. So you take the bucket and slightly grudgingly set off to visit the neighbors. Less than 20 minutes you are back with all eight and a small list of why people didn’t want them today. Mom and your 16 year old sister take the fish and begin making preparations to fry it. You don’t mind because though you have this meal close to 5 times a week, rice and fried fish is one of your favorites.

Slightly later in the evening your 20 year sister comes back from working in the corner store. She slept in that morning and snuck away while you were running an errand for your Mom. Tired after finishing up a 12 hour day in a very busy store, she eats the portion your sisters set aside for her. Soft spoken and quietly beautiful, your sister changes clothes and soon begins to share an interesting story from the day. If you only understood the story that changed everything for her. When she was younger, a pastor in your village told your Mom she should pull your older sister and your brother out of school, because it was run by Catholic Nuns. Though possessing religious undertones like almost every school in Colombia, the pastor feared they were force feeding these children Catholism. However, though he never removed his own children from this institution, he insisted to the other church members to do so themselves. Your Mom, already unable to see the value of education, willingly agreed thus ending your oldest sister’s educational opportunity. Though the Nun’s pleaded with your Mom, the decision was made and in that moment your Sister began to walk the path of the woman who made you both. So now she works long hours everyday and for her hard work that translates into an 80 hour weeks, she is paid $50 per month. Some money goes to help buy food, some clothes, and some to herself because even though the path has been laid out for her, there is still a passion in her heart to become something more.

You my dearest little girl are 10 years old and possess a smile that lights up a room and an energy that is stronger than a coffee bean. You love to play hopscotch in the dirt outside your home and possess a passion for paper, rock, scissors that at times make someone in particular regret teaching it to you. Your favorite food was rice until you were introduced to the beauty of Froot Loops! The laugh you made when you discovered the toy inside the box would be a moment no one would forget. Though like many people here in Colombia, you are not the kindest to animals, this is washed clean in someone’s eyes by the beautiful heart you possess. You are a ray of sunshine in an often dark and gloomy room. You will break this cycle because there is something about you that I don’t think even your Mother can keep hidden away. You will break this cycle because you must for yourself and everyone else. Every good story must have a happy ending…promise me this!

I am changed.

This is not about making your feel guilty but making you aware. I am not sharing an experience that someone else has had in West Africa. No, I am sharing an experience that your friend, colleague, student, nephew, cousin, brother, or son has just had in Colombia. If you read this blog you probably know me very personally so please hear my cry for help. Look at your beautiful children and think about the precious little girl that has rocked my world! The same sweet smiles but very different worlds! We are a blessed nation and its time we stand up and believe we can make a difference.

I wrote this blog in a secular manner because the billions of people who live in desperate poverty is a huge problem. While I have my beliefs about why each human’s heart cries when we think about struggling children, in this moment I will not make that case but instead just ask you to do what you feel you should do. And know that you can do so much with an caring heart. What is it saying this minute?

To the many Christians who read my blog, I have lovingly just made you responsible. Let those who have ears to hear, let them hear. The God we worship loves this precious little family greater than I could ever have in all my lifetime. But He uses us as His hands and feet. The glory goes to Him, as this family will have a new fishing net in November. We learned a few things about financial management and finding Mom a temporary job helped as well. The Father is learning how to read and it’s actually going very well. We practice with a book that shares the Bible in a simple manner. He has taken it upon himself to share these stories with his children after each lesson and I am hopeful he can teach his illiterate family to read as well! The struggling fisherman has come to love the Lord with all His heart, soul, and mind. While I know the storms will certainly continue, it gives me such amazing peace to know this house has been built on the rock that is the Lord! I ask you to start in prayer. Pray for the lost, poor, orphaned, widowed and voiceless. Ask how you can help? And then listen…faithfully! What does He whisper in your ear?

To Elfrien, Margalisa, Carmen, Luis, Linei, Inoria, and precious little Dayana…I give you my love, prayers, and thoughts! You will be missed!

Eric

Ten Reasons I know I am in Santa Ana, Colombia

10. The moment I woke up from a nap to find a white frog, which was apparently injured, dripping blue blood down my wall.

9. Every time I have startled a herd of cattle and a gang of donkeys while running. There is nothing like running behind thousands of pounds of beef and burro except seeing the face of people who happen to be coming the other way!

8. When I can no longer count on 2 hands and 2 feet how many servings of rice I have eaten this week.

7. The fact that I am once again writing another blog while in my underwear, fan full blast, and ear plugs to help my mind think about something other than Daddy Yankee.

6. After walking to the public school 2 times a day, 5 days a week, for almost 8 months, I still get a few motorcycle taxis asking me if I am going to Playa Blanca. Maybe the latest beach fashion for touristy gringos is dress pants, button-up shirt, and school supplies!

5. As I am sitting listening patiently and respectfully during a mind numbing meeting in Spanish, a gecko decides the top of my head would be a great landing pad for his suicide jump off his perch 10 feet up.

4. I forgot what my principle looks like.

3. Following yet another debilitating rain shower, seeing 2 eyes staring at you in a puddle, only to remind yourself there are no crocodiles on the coast but there are a million pigs who like to escape this heat!

2. I just bought 7 pounds of Mojarra (Red Snapper’s Brother) for 7 dollars yet while delicious; the amount of oil that was consumed during this meal took another 12 days off my life. ETA to Heaven…about 58 years old and dropping.

1. No hay school today, no hay school tomorrow.

Half-time in Colombia- Part Dos

As I sit down to write this blog entry, there seems to be a lot on my heart.

Reflecting on “Life in Colombia” over the last 6 months takes my mind many places. Yet, the truth is: I just spent the better part of this beautiful morning writing about the first thing that seems to always come to mind in a moment like this. Something that I was scared to write about but as I did it was like felt more peace with each letter. While I talk in a manner that sometimes appears like I have no real train of thought, my writing is more methodical. One day in the moment I feel my heart is adequately represented with consideration to others involved, I will post it. Until than…you get the locker-room halftime report!

Half-Time Key Points

1. Keep the Weight On!
If I never see another plate of beans or lentils, white rice, and fried plantains, I will not be crying. Colombian cuisine is kind of a like a Plymouth Voyager Minivan. Its big in size, not too flashy or colorful, leaves plenty to be desired, but gets the job done! So while I’m not whining like a baby about it, I will state that Bobby Flay does not have to worry about anyone from this country trying to dethrone his Iron Chef status.

The Plan: Continue to be creative with my fellow American teachers. Take Colombian food like the empanada and make it American (thicken the dough, add a hotdog, you have Pigs in a Blanket!). Beg friends and family to send seasonings! Eat Crepes and Waffles Ice-cream every chance I get in Cartagena! Dream of BBQ and countdown the days I can stick a big fatty piece of meat in my smoker for 7 hours! And above all else…amazing breakfast foods like the pancake and delicious Western omelet will always do the trick and help me remember good old America!

2. Learn Spanish!
While many at home probably think it’s very easy to do so when you live where I do, I would have to agree! But I will add that I live with 5 other English speakers and there are days that I don’t speak a lick of Espanol! If I were in another situation, I am sure I would be far more fluent by now, but it’s just how my cookie crumbled. The reality is that we have plenty of opportunity to learn, we just need to make them happen, and continue to push ourselves to learn (I should be a motivational speaker...Chris Farley style though).

The Plan: Get back in my books! Remember I have a few friends in the pueblo to whom know zero English! This is nice because often my Colombian friends who know some English want to practice their Ingles, which doesn’t help me much! And lastly, quit being lazy! I am Colombian, dang it Seguin, learn the language like you ought to!

3. Re-evaluate Ministry
I did an earlier study on legalism in the Bible starting with Abraham and into Galatians. It was something I desired very much to share with my Colombians friends here. That by His Grace we are saved, it is a free gift for all those who believe in Jesus, and when we get caught up in thinking we actually can do things ourselves, we are being set up to fail and fall on our face. We’ll while I was able to teach this to the church I am working with; I think God had me study it because I needed to learn it! I will not lie, when I say that I have struggled here in Colombia, it is an understatement. While I have come to know God in a way that would have been very difficult in the States, I have also faced amazing adversity and have not always walked away victorious. My faith has been under attack and in this storm I have reached out for other things than Him! The solution I have seen time and time again, is that when you’re stuck in quick sand and going down, you would rather hold on to a nearby rock than a blade of grass. But the problem is that sometimes the grass is all you see? So needless to say, it’s been a struggle. One that has discouraged me in some remarkable ways! Yet, I have friends praying for me and I know that He is near!

The Plan: To Know God deeper and deeper in the face of this adversity. To bring all of me, the good and the bad, to the Cross and humbly ask Him to change me, a sinner! To ask my friends, to keep me accountable, and to be honest about these struggles! I know He is leading me, preparing me, for things I will not be able to do on my own, and I want that! I want that kind of dependence! It’s a huge reason I am here, so I pray I quit reaching for grass and finally learn there is a huge rock that never moves and was designed for me to stand tall upon it. And in each and every victory may He be glorified.

4. Understand Life in the slums of Santa Ana
Don’t get me wrong, we are blessed as we live in the nicest place in Santa Ana. We are housed within the private school here and truly have little to complain about. We have water, food, shelter, electricity, and even internet! Yet, all of us will admit, living among this very poor pueblo has been both hard and challenging. The poverty is immense and while the kids and their families appear happy, you have to wonder what it’s like for some of them who live in a small hut, with a leaky roof, and dirt floors. However, being among this community has given us all an amazing insight to how the majority of the world lives like. Did you know that more than 3 billion people live on less than 2 dollars a day in this world? 1 Billion of them live in desperate poverty! And as I have stated before, 30,000 children will die today from lack of food or preventable disease. We are a blessed nation! So while I have seen a bit about what it’s like for the poor and oppressed, I want to learn more. I want to gain more insight on how we help such a community like this. While no one is dying here of hunger, all are well fed, but this poor community is still running a course to remain poor, under-resourced, and possibly displaced by more educated Colombians!

The Plan: To make every effort to see the whole story. It’s easy to take an educated approach and cite X, Y and Z for these problems. But it’s another thing to use your improved Spanish and enter people’s worlds! To hear from them about what it is like? How things in this community have improved and where they believe it hasn’t. I am not trying to take my ideals of the American Dream and impose it on them, but meeting them on their level and seeing what is the next step that could mean better water, education, less disease, job opportunity, and transportation! I am not sure there is much I can do, but this type of knowledge will go a long way into possibly helping someone else in the future or possibly coming back with a real game plan and resources to aid in these problems.

We’ll this is the half-time report on “Life in Colombia.” These are 4 things that I will be focusing on in the months ahead. 4 things I will address at the end of my journey here as well. Looking at the calendar, I really don’t have that much time left, so it’s truly time to take advantage of the amazing opportunity and not waste a day.

Thanks for tuning in! You are a missed so much!

Eric Seguin