Be Prepared

Besides being the Boy Scout motto, "Be Prepared" resonates in our household like air to the lungs.  I shake my head in disbelief and awe at the twists and turns my life, and now my family's life, has taken.  We really should write a book!  From my birth in Brazil (Becky), to living the corporate life and making a very good living (Bill), to homeschooling, to our ridiculous and wild traveling, to now living near the Amazon in Brazil.  We would have you laughing, crying, amazed, wondering about us, but hopefully most of all, thinking about your own life.  Are you prepared?

Prepared for what?  Whatever comes your way.  For the accounting of your life to God.  For surrendering your will to be molded.  For giving up control of your orderly world.  For being responsible.  For whatever is needed at different times of your life, with a touch of humor on the side.  

My kids are teaching me what I seemed to have forgotten when I was their age.  Take a chance.  Enjoy the moment.  And I'm teaching them what they need to learn (grudgingly at times...).  Endure what you don't like (like sitting through a Brazilian service even though they can't understand most of what is said).  Washing dishes by hand.  Cleaning house.  Walking or riding city buses.

This is a tribute to all who have learned to "be prepared" and who understand what Paul means when he addressed the Philippians:  "...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."

We are in a season of not having plenty (on purpose - we chose to live near a 3rd world part of Brazil) but we have also lived in the plenty.  And just a note to the plenty.  Use what God has given you to strengthen others around you.  Don't feel bad about having plenty.  And those not having plenty, don't berate those that do. There is a season for both.  

I hope you enjoy this Prezi.  It is an awesome way to visually present things, and since we have so many photos (over 500!) of our recent trips to the river communities, this is a fun way to show them off.  It was hard to pick only a few, but at least you can get a feel for the areas we go to (all within 1-2 hours of us).