We were surprised by God.

It's been a full day. finished the message at 3:35 this morning, then to bed. woke up and went to church this morning. Leslie stayed home with Hannah, who is running a fever of 102.5 and surprised us last night after supper by getting sick all over the carpet at El Charrito. She hadn't eaten anything there, but it was still not good. Immediately after worship, we (the youth, a few of the adults, and I) ran downstairs and grabbed a bite of lunch before heading over to Tappahannock for the 1:15 showing of "The Passion of The Christ". Seriously gory movie. Seriously gory event. The identification of Mary watching it all happen as a mother watching her son suffering and not being able to do something about it seems to be what got to me the quickest. Afterwards, we went to the McDonald's across the parking lot and sat around and talked out the movie to some degree, though not to any serious depth. It was a good time to just sit and talk to each other, even so.

On our way back here my phone rang and it was Cecilia, letting me know she was on her way. I understood her to mean she was on her way here to the house to let me fax the form I gave her on Friday, so I said "no problem, we're almost home as well -- I'll see you there." We got back to the Church, and Keith asked me to take him to Brandon's house, in Rainswood, which is over near Callao. I did, and while I was on my way my phone rang again, it was Cecilia, telling me she'd just seen me driving down 360, and I explained to her that one of the youth had asked me to take him to his friends house, and that as soon as I dropped him off I'd head back and would see her there.

I pulled into the driveway about 15 or 20 minutes later got out, walked into the house, and a couple of minutes after that the home phone rang, and it was Cecilia calling on her cellphone, from the parking lot of Totuskey church, where we are scheduled to have an 'Encuentro' next Sunday. She had spent the morning traveling around to different apartments and places, inviting the people she knows to come to what she thought was the gathering we would be having this evening! We immediately told her to come here to the house and we'd have an impromptu gathering HERE. Leslie and I looked at each other and realized it might be more than just Cecilia, Felix, Emilio, Manuel, Grisel, Brenda and Berenice. Turned out to be two full minivans' worth of people. We had 16 people altogether, not counting us (5). Leslie and Cecilia made mexican rice when she came in, and we had chicken enchiladas from Friday's dinner, and I ran into town and bought 20 pieces of fried chicken from Hardee's, and we had an absolutely marvelous time! We sat and laughed and joked and just relaxed and had a good time together. Leslie asked me if I was planning on doing a devotional. Though I hadn't, it made perfect sense to DO one, so after we'd eaten, I came into the study and picked up a spanish Bible and took it into the living room and sat down. As the conversation progressed, we started talking about spiritual things, and it came around to me mentioning that Janet and Sydney and Summer (sister in law and her two daughters) were going on a mission trip to Acuna, Mexico next week. In that, I mentioned that both of the girls had made professions of faith in the last year, something Janet had mentioned in her email, and something Leslie was unaware of. THAT then led to the conversation turning to what it means to accept Christ, and we ended up with the Gospel being shared in a very natural and ... non-confrontational way.

Leslie made the point (which we have kept in front of us all along) that having a relationship with Christ isn't a question of what denomination you are, it is a question of the heart. We didn't have an alter call, but I sense that that turning point may not be far off for some.

The conversation turned to preparations for Easter, and we've made tentative plans for Maundy Thursday, as well as for Easter Sunday. I let them know that there is a gathering scheduled for that day here at Jerusalem church, and we've decided we'll have a spanish worship service at 1:00 that afternoon, followed by a gathering celebration that afternoon.

They shared a little about what is involved in a traditional Mexican Easter celebration, and we may incorporate some of those elements in our celebration.

We were surprised by God this evening.

It was great.