It's windy

It's hard to believe that I haven't written about what is to follow yet. I guess it was two weeks ago, some really cool plans fell into place.

Our friends that I have mentioned beforehand, Micah and Jocelyn, hooked us up big time with some good information. They are here serving a few sisters of that Catholic faith in a rural town of Malingas. We are blessed to see them on the weekends and have them for the Sunday evening devotionals. They informed us that the main Catholic church in Piura has a special guest every summer that travels here for ten days or so. This guy and his posse build a few houses, visit an orphanage, and do several other things. We figured out when they were arriving and planned to figure out how we could combine our adventures that week. Oh, I almost forgot, this guy's name is Jim Harbaugh.

So that Monday evening that Harbaugh and friends arrived, we showed up at the church, found the padre (whom we had formerly met), and searched the crowds of people for the big man. After finding him and chatting it up, we cancelled our weekly journey to Tambogrande and set in stone plans to join them for the next two days.

That morning we were off at nine o'clock from the church and made our way to the outskirts of Piura. They dropped off Harbaugh and the dozen or so other guys with him at one location and took us to another site nearby. After getting only about an hour or so into the house we were working on, the truck that delivered us swung by and picked Case, Alex, and I up. They told us Jim was asking where we were and that we needed to be with their group. Can't lie, that felt pretty cool. We helped finish up the house that they had about finished and said goodbye for the day.

The following morning, we showed up at the same time, and soon were off. Our plans for that day were pretty different, but also indescribable. The plan for the day was visit the prison of Piura and throw around the ole pigskin.

We showed up to the prison and went through security, they took up our passports and we were patted down. After going through many gates and fences we walked onto the yard, where twenty or so handpicked inmates mostly in the ages of 18-24 awaited us. The offenses of the fellas were from petty crimes to the much more serious of armed robbery and murder. We didn't care though.

With about six balls and about thirty of us total, we had balls flying everywhere and people scrambling all over the place. We warmed up with a punt-pass-kick contest and then quickly were splitting up the teams to start the big game. For about an hour and a half then, our teams went at it, Jim Harbaugh and Case McCoy at QB on opposite teams. Battle royale.

After the intense game ended in a tie at 28 all, we were taken back and shown the quarters of the inmates. We talked for a while, traded shirts and shoes with the guys, and then departed. On our way back we stopped for some beverages and got to talk a lot with the guys we were with. Talk about some very cool DTE guys. They were real, didn't have noses turned up, but had smiles and sweaty brows. A few of them were millionaires, successful businessmen, one of them took his team to the Super Bowl in the previous season. And they there, being themselves, serving, talking about families and life, and treating us like best friends.

--The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.  -John 3:8

--Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. -2 Cor 3:4-6

"The God who is- the I am who I am- cannot act apart from love!" -The Shack