Why symmetrical blogs in English & Spanish?

BECAUSE I CAN!!!

(Tarzan syndrome... enter Greg, jumping up and down on the kitchen table, beating his chest, and letting rip his best Johnny Weismuller yell.)

Spanish for me is an acquired ability; knew nary a word of it before 1977; I was 27 years old. It is something that I am comfortable with now because I have been living in the language pretty much all of the time since then. Virtually all of my ministry experience and prepared sermon and teaching material is in Spanish.

So, if I have this ability, why shouldn't I flaunt it?

Ok, if I stopped here, this entry would be pretty disgusting.

There is a tendency among people around me to not assert themselves in spiritual matters... a reluctance to do their very best and use their particular talents to the max. Why? for fear that someone might think that they are conceited, showing off, or just trying to prove that they are a little better than the rest.

Why have I decided to work doubly hard to maintain symmetrical blogs in English and Spanish? (I am off of the kitchen table now and back at my computer.)

The more spiritual -and correct- answer might be:

BECAUSE IF I CAN, I SHOULD!!!

However and for whatever reason God allowed me this ability, it would be scandalously negligent of me to bury it; to not use it to full advantage. It is, after all, His, just as I am His.

In my case, I owe God; I owe a lot of His people, too. Almost feels like a split personality, a Tale of Two Cities, a biography written in two chapters.

I owe people on the English speaking side of my life; I owe people on the Spanish speaking side of my life. I don't necessarily owe everybody exactly the same thing.

I owe the English speaking chapter of my life for everything that brought me to the point of even having a Spanish speaking chapter in my life.

I owe the Spanish speaking side of my life the most important thing that I received from the English speaking side of my life. As things happened, my upbringing, my education, my conversion to Christ, my desire for ministry came during that time frame. And, the debt I owe now is the same as the Apostle Paul's...

“14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. 15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.” (Romans 1:14-15)

...to convey the wonderful news of  Jesus Christ to those that God has prepared me for.

Enough about me. Please don't tell me that you have nothing to offer to God...to your church... to those around you yet without Christ. It just ain't so!

In Spanish they say, "shame is pride's first cousin" (la pena es primo hermano del orgullo).

We don't step up and assert ourselves -not because we are just too godly and sickeningly humble- but because we fear the ridicule or the embarrassment if other people should see us when we mess up (because mess up we will!).

For those of us who are "out there"... when we do mess up, it is our privilege to get to do it in front of dozens, even hundreds of others. Those that let shame get the better of them often need to criticize us in order to cover their own rears.

There is comfort. Once we have checked to make sure that our own motives for asserting our talents and abilities are pure, we can be at peace. We can leave the naysayers and excuse makers to their own devices. They will have their reward, just as we will have ours.

So... please... study my training video (above)...  and let 'er rip!!! 

P.S. I recently created two static pages that appear in the right hand margin: "More about us..." and "Why this blog...", so that there is more information available to anyone who might want to know a bit more about us. Thanks!