And even in that heat (which I like) I can take a break from the computer and the classes I am teaching, get out and pedal away—especially when I know that part of the ride will be interrupted by a swim in our local cenote. Diving through a hole in the earth into cool clear water, and splashing around in a cave that is part of an underground river which is wending its way through limestone tunnels. There is little or no current in the water, as there are no mountains in the Yucatan, but I wonder where the deep tunnel that the cave disappears into goes…There is a sport called cave diving. It is a variation of scuba diving only it follows these underground rivers and caves. I have no interest at all, but you can’t help wondering how far you would have to swim to get to the next cavern. Probably farther than you could hold your breath, which is why I don’t even consider trying…
Last weekend I went to Cozumel, the largest island of Mexico. Just off the coast of the Mayan Riviera, south of Cancun, it is one of my favorite places in the world. It is very different from Cancun, at least at night when the cruise ships have left the dock and are moving towards their next port. The island has a history and an ethos that even its tourist industry can not completely erase. More family oriented, more slow paced, not as crazy as Cancun.
I spent just two nights there in a small hotel. Sat on the waterfront and ate a hamburger I bought from a street vendor on the corner. I spent the afternoon I was there scuba diving in one of the finest reef complexes in the world. Manta ray, lobster, eels, and countless brilliant colored fish carrying on with their lives in the underwater world, moving effortlessly in and around the towering coral columns, make diving surreal and serene.
Driving back to Merida I noticed several highway signs of a type that has sometimes got me thinking. The sign can often be found on a lonely stretch of highway, all by itself. It reads No Maltrate las Señales, which translated means Don’t Mistreat the Signs. A reasonable enough message, but one which is a little odd when it is on the only sign for miles. If the sign were not there there would be no signs to mistreat. Makes me wonder…
Back at the seminary I am finishing up my final week of classes, as I head back home Friday. The class load has not been great, one on Paul’s writings and another on Preaching, but I also accepted a Friday 4 hour class which added a bit. Operating in Spanish is something I enjoy, but I am all too aware of my limitations and it is stretching to do it all the time. The most challenging part of my teaching here has been attempting to put some of what I am doing online. In fact the plan as of today is to continue teaching the class on Paul’s writings from home in the United States, all by internet. If it were just a matter of technical production that would be one thing, but putting the written in Spanish and posting it, then doing an audio component in Spanish that is basically a summary of the class sessions, that is really a challenge. And it adds to the sense of limitations as it puts what I do, with all its limitations and errors, out for the world to evaluate…
I guess one of the things I have learned is that God does not use the best or most well trained, just the most willing. We do not have to be great, but we have to be available. And when we are, it is up to God to take what we can offer and turn it into something of use to the kingdom. I have come to realize that to not do something because we know we can not do it as well as some others is a form of arrogance. Excellence is a good thing, but availability is an even better thing…So we give what we can and put it in the hands of God. I suppose even Isaiah may not have been the best and most qualified person for the job of prophet, but he was the one who said, Here am I. Send me. He was available and look at what God did through him...
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