VBS in Uco Park

Have you ever tried to do VBS in a park? Believe me, it is an experience. Those of my readers (not many) who are from or know about Del Rio, TX will probably know where Uco park is but for the rest of you, it is located near downtown Del Rio, adjacent to the railroad track and directly in the landing approach for the airport. The trains are frequent and often have armed border patrol officers on top of the cars.

The folks at FBC Portland used to go to Del Rio each year for a Mission VBS and we did it in Uco Park. There was a small Hispanic Baptist Church about a block from the park and we lived in their facility while we were there. We always arrived on Saturday and the whole neighborhood would be there to greet us. The first time I went, I was amazed. The women of the church cooked the best Mexican food ever and we always ate way too much. Sunday we worshiped with them (in Spanish), usually one of our leaders preached in English and their pastor would translate. Sunday afternoon we got ready with last minute details and usually took our big blue bus around the neighborhood to advertise. It was a ton of fun.

I taught 2nd grade and we usually wound up with 20-30 of them and a few younger siblings that would not go in the preschool area. Most of them spoke English OK so we were able to communicate. Our problem was the heat at the end of July, and the noise from trains and airplanes. These were very distracting and made evrything more difficult. The first year that I went along (probably 1980), there was girl in our group named Esmerelda. She was one who had a brother who was 5 and was afraid to go on his own so he hung out with her in 2nd grade. Esmerelda could never pronounce my last name, I can't either sometimes. She finally named me Father Goose which was as close as she ever got. I had that name for quite a while after that particularly where VBS was concerned.

We went all week long and we would make gospel presentations in the big blue bus for those above 3rd grade. Many a youngster heard about Jesus for the first time in that old bus. Our opening assembly each day was in a ball stadium again with the accompanying trains and airplanes. Those were memorable days for me and I often wonder if anyone still ministers there in Uco park. I'm sure there are still plenty of kids who need to hear the word.

Oh, and there was always the raspa at refreshment time to cool us off.

Meeting needs

What do you do when you pass a beggar on the street? Suppose he was on the steps leading to your church, the place where you go to worship, what then?

We've all seen him, perhaps with a sign that says "will work for food". What do we do with him?

We might cross the street to avoid him, perhaps we can enter church by another door, avoid eye contact at all costs, or maybe you have a diferent answer.

Acts 3:1-10 relates a similar story.

Peter and John were approaching the Temple to pray. It was the usual time, about 3 in the afternoon. Suddenly Peter sees this lame man at the gate and he stops to observe the man. The lame man notices that someone had stopped and hopeful of a gift, he extends his hand with a rusty old cup. Peter and John have no money but Peter addresses the man, "Look at us" he says. "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I will give you, Stand up and walk".

The lame man looked at Peter with amazement. He had never stood or walked, he had been lame from birth. How would he do what this man was commanding him to do? Suddenly Peter extended his right hand and grasping the lame man's hand, he helped him to his feet. The story tells us that as he was standing up, the bones in his feet and ankles were strengthened and he was healed. The man indeed stood, and he waked and even leapt for joy. He was able for the first time to enter the Temple and worship.

Peter and John had walked this way before many times. Had they seen this lame man those other times? I think they had and had found an excuse to ignore him. This time however, something clicked and they realized that they could meet his need, not just the physical need of the moment, but spiritual as well.

The lesson for us is that God wants us to be involved in meeting the needs of others. We do not have the option of just passing by and ignoring them. God is reaching down to pull them up, our role is to bring them together. We do that by being concious of the needs around us and doing our best to meet them. The resources that God gives us are not for us, but are to enable us to help others.

Worship again

Sunday in Bible study we focused on worship. We mainly talked about corporate worship. We used Acts 2:42-47 as a starting point and this verse stood out:

Acts 2:43

Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

There was a sense of awe, amazement, and expectation about what God was doing in their midst. They gathered daily for worship, we have trouble with once a week. Verse 46 tells us they came together with gladness and sincerity of heart. They were excited about every chance to worship God. When they came together they expected God to be present and do something. Too often I think we approach worship with a ho-hum attitude instead of being excited about what God is going to accomplish in us. We expect little and that is just what we get.

Only when we approach worship with awe, a deep sense of reverence and expectation of an encounter with God, will He be stirred to do signs and wonders among us. When that happens we will not be able to contain it in four walls. It will spill out into the streets and communities where we live and our world will be changed.

Are you ready for that?

Building at the creek

I know you probably thought this series had ended but just when you least expect it, here is another episode.

The Builder Chapter 4


In the early 1950’s my grandfather wanted to have a place on the coast so with input from my dad and my uncle he purchased a lot on Caney Creek. Once again the Builder was enlisted to build the house and my uncle was involved as well. From that time we spent every vacation and many weekends down there so they could work on the house. It was about 30 feet on each side and very primitive. There was no bathroom and the outhouse was about 25 feet from the house. In winter it was pretty uncomfortable. There was a screened porch around 2 sides with board shutters in case of storms. The mosquitoes were terrible and each evening we would spray the sleeping area with mosquito spray. It was effective but it was pretty stinky stuff and I didn’t like it at all.

My uncle had a boat and many mornings he and dad would go exploring in the bay and of course that involved fishing. I wanted to go along but for those trips it was men only, no children ever went with them. To make up for that my brother and I found an old flat bottomed pram kind of boat that had been abandoned. It leaked like a sieve but we didn’t care. We patched it up as best we could and used it to explore the creek banks in both directions, bailing as we went. We had no motor of any sort so poles and oars were the accepted form of power. This boat provided hours of fun exploring our new surroundings and it lasted a couple of years before it finally rotted to the point that we could not use it. By that time the house was finished. Dad had purchased a used boat with a very old outboard motor and quite often our whole family would go fishing, in those days there was no license required for salt water. All five of us would be up at about 4 AM and by daylight we would be sitting over a favorite reef with lines in the water. In later years dad seemed to think that 8 or 9 AM was early enough but that was after us kids were grownups. These fishing trips usually resulted in a war of sorts because the fish were always biting on one end of the boat but not the other. In other words one of us kids, usually my sister, would catch fish and I would not. It was totally unfair and happened pretty regular.

Sometime around 1956 or 57, my dad decided that this house with 3 families most of the weekends was too crowded so he bought another lot about a mile and a half further down the creek. Dad moved an old house that we had in Houston and set it up on the new lot. That lot is the same one that we own today and spend a lot of time working on. The house we have now is different though since that original house that was moved from Houston was destroyed in Hurricane Carla in 1961.

By this time my brother and I had an aluminum boat with an old outboard motor and we were able to expand our range for exploring. The intracoastal canal which runs from Brownsville, TX all the way to Florida was less than a mile away and we could see large tugboats with barge loads of stuff traveling along this route. Matagorda Bay was huge in our eyes and now we were able to see and explore some of the same places that dad and my uncle had explored. It was fascinating to say the least.

Mom used to take us kids down there for a week at a time in the summer while dad had to work. He would join us on weekends. My best friend, Jimmy would sometimes join us and on one such occasion we three had taken the aluminum boat and were out in the bay fishing. The trip came to an end abruptly when a fish hook got lodged in the back of my brother’s neck. We were unable to get it out so we returned to the house. Mom was pretty upset about it and she also could not dislodge the hook. So she loaded us all in the car and we went to Bay City for the emergency room. Fortunately they were able to remove it and other than the pain, my brother was none the worse for wear. He may not agree about that but that is my side of the story.

I think this is getting too long, I have at least one more story from the fifties but I will share it in the next episode.