A new beginning - Easter 2014

                             Leaves, Worms And A New Beginning

As it rained last night I listened to the wind in the trees and heard the birds sing as they pulled fat worms from the ground. When I was a child I would look at flowers and leaves and birds and the sky and people singing, and think, “When God made everything, it was perfect.” I would imagine all the perfect trees and birds and songs and people, and spotless and perfectly shaped and tuned and shining – the lion and the lamb playing, mosquitoes buzzing around in tiny formations tickling us, spiders performing like little trapeze artists for us to enjoy -until sin came to the world.

 

I could just see the blight and poison and twistedness of sin spreading in all directions from Eve’s apple. The Mosquitoes now loaded with parasites and looking for tender flesh to pierce, viruses mutating into pathogens, each leaf slightly deformed, each song a bit out of tune and with words that didn’t quite rhyme, the mothers and fathers loving their children but acting out ancient hurts.

In my childish mind I would think, “if just one tree could produce a perfect leaf, if just one canary could sing the perfect song, if I could just write the perfect story or color just one picture staying in the lines, maybe then God would put everything back to how it should be, maybe he would take away all the hurts and stings and we would all be happy.” The older I got the more I realized how terribly bad things are in the world, and I gave up on the idea that people or birds or trees could ever do just one thing perfectly, anything at all, so that God could take away all the pain and sorrow in the earth and our hearts.

But last night I remembered that one little baby was a perfect baby. Oh, sure, he cried and kept his mom up at night, but that is baby perfection. And when he grew up he spilled his milk, and skinned his knees, broke his dad’s tools, and once he even got lost for 3 days without telling his parents where he was! Imagine that! And yet he still did it all perfectly. He was a pest as a teen, asking way too many questions, looking for his “real” father, bugging his brothers. As he grew older he took on too many burdens, shared too many griefs, touched too many lepers, laughed with too many prostitutes, drank with too many lowlifes, walked on the water too many times, forgave too many evil people. He didn’t heal all the people in every town, didn’t meet people’s expectations, didn’t overthrow an evil political system, didn’t convince his accusers of his innocence.

He couldn’t even die a decent death at a ripe old age, surrounded with a loving family and honors, after living a productive life, quietly drifting off in a dignified manner – no, he had to die an untimely death, shamefully naked before his mother, mocked, with violent men tearing his flesh. Worst of all, he died by mistake, accused of terrible things –lies, robbery, murder, rape, incest, horrible things, disgusting things – things he never did. All he had to say was, “It wasn’t me that did those horrible things, it was Gerry, and John, and Sam and Judith. Let them hang here instead of me,” - and he would have been spared the beatings and thorns and spit and humiliation and fists in his face.

But that death and that life counted in God’s eyes as a perfect thing, a perfect song, a perfect picture, a perfect love. And after that death God did wipe out all the evil and sorrow and pain, and began another ripple in the universe, a ripple of goodness and hope and new beginnings that has crossed centuries and will spread to every corner of our world. Jesus did that one perfect thing and today we are free!
 

Gerry Gutierrez, Easter 2005

 

Who are the Indians of Oaxaca and what do they want?

The last time I was at the Census Bureau in Oaxaca I inquired, “How many Indians are in Oaxaca and Mexico?” The answer, as always, “We don’t count Indians, we ask people if they speak an indigenous language and report the total of ‘speakers of indigenous languages’ in our information.”
So who are the Indians of Oaxaca? To begin with the term Indian was created by Colombus when he misnamed the continent he found (it wasn’t lost) while he was searching for India. In North America the indigenous people call themselves Native Americans or First Nations, in South America they are aboriginals or natives or indigenous or tribals. In Oaxaca they are Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Trikis, Chontales, Huaves, Amuzgos or several other tribes. Or in their own languages they are Diidzaj, Ñuu Savi, Driki, and so on. The names we commonly use for them are often the derogatory Aztec terms for the indigenous people, such as calling the Pame “Chichimeca” (dogs), or naming several distinct groups “Chontal” (strange languages).
Going back to who is an Indian, we have to ask ourselves what is the criterion for being an Indian, and why does it matter. In the US, to be a Native American means having political rights and economic benefits. The history of North America was a massive influx northern Europeans who displaced the native people but made treaties with the political heads of the tribes. This resulted in reservations and treaties, which the present day native people are using to their advantage. An Indian in the US is someone who can trace their lineage back to one ancestor among dozens of non-Indians, although they do not speak an Indian language or dress or live in the traditional way. As Indians recover economic benefits, there has been an increase in their population as people discover their roots and declare themselves as such.
In Mexico and parts of Latin America conquered by Spain, the invasion was primarily by soldiers, “conquistadores”, religious orders and not by a large civilian population. A very small force defeated the ruling civilization, be it the Aztec in Mexico or the Inca further south. They replaced the rulers and destroyed much of the royal hierarchy, but the vast bulk of the citizenry conserved their culture and languages, as proven by the millions of Latin Americans who still speak over 900 languages. Since most of the invading and ruling force was male, they procreated forcibly or consensually with the indigenous women, creating the mestizos or mixed population. These offspring of two cultures were generally not welcomed by their indigenous relatives, or recognized by their Spanish fathers. Over the years the percentage of mestizos grew, and as allies of the ruling Spaniards born in the new world, eventually they overthrew the yoke of Spain in Latin America.
In Mexico alone there are 10 to 14 million language speakers, of which one million do not speak Spanish. Again, who decides if someone speaks a language and is indigenous? The Census takers ask people if they speak a language other than Spanish. In a country where 90% of the people are racially indigenous, but are ruled by light skinned descendents of the Spanish invaders, where all the people visible on TV are fair skinned, where “Indio” is synonymous with dummy, where thousands of indigenous people are forced to work stoop labor in agricultural fields for a pittance, where they are ridiculed for not speaking good Spanish, and to get ahead you have to abandon your traditional ways – with all those pressures it is a wonder that anyone says, “Yes, I speak Chatino or Mazateco.”
The discrimination against the indigenous people by Spanish speaking fair skinned people is more cultural than racial. It is common to see older people in traditional garb speaking their language, while their middle aged children wear western garb and speak both languages. Their children in turn are fluent in Spanish, are educated as professionals, and have abandoned their indigenous roots. And of course there are dozens of people from every village in Mexico all over the US, adding English and pop culture to their collection of languages and likes. So we can say that being an Indian in Oaxaca means that of all the options available to a group of people – migrating to the big city to be a mestizo, going farther north to be a brown “gringo”, or staying home to till the land and sell craft to tourists – they have chosen to remain indigenous in their own land. Land is held collectively by the tribes or by individuals, and in many areas the indigenous people are able to earn a good living through agriculture, forestry, trade, tourism or selling their handcrafts.

Now that we know who they are, what do the indigenous people of Oaxaca want? I am not an Indian, I am a blond, blue-eyed American of Swiss-German-English descent, as you can see from my picture at www.gerryoaxaca.blogspot.com. However, I have lived among Zapotec Indians in Oaxaca for the last 55 years, have two Zapotec daughters, and a half Zapotec brother and sister. For 30 years I have been a practicing physician among Zapotecs and other ethnic groups in Oaxaca, and have visited almost all of the ethnic groups of Mexico. As an observer of indigenous people in Mexico and Latin America, I think am qualified to speak about what they want.
First of all, the indigenous people are a subset of a group called humans, and share all the human desires and needs – food, shelter, to be part of a family, respect, remunerative work, to know and fulfill their role in their community, and be at peace with God.
In my first article about Oaxaca, I mentioned the primary actors on the scene, the Indians, the Spanish speakers, and the recent arrivals. Before the arrival of the third party, the poor, illiterate Indians and the ruling mestizo class had arrived at an uneasy peace. But the presence of foreigners has changed that balance of power. The tourists, missionaries, hippies, anthropologists, drug dealers, snowbirds, surfers, retirees and radicals who arrived in the last 80 years began to know, appreciate and love the indigenous people. As their customs, languages, ruins, crafts and society began to be valued by others, the indigenous people began to realize their true worth. The old alliances of religious/civic power that kept the indigenous people ignorant and impoverished were broken, and they began to educate themselves and their children for a different world.
The various tribal groups of Oaxaca have different histories: Zapotecs have better land and are prosperous traders; Mixtecos have poorer land, less valuable crafts and migrate to improve their lives; the Trikis are fighting among themselves over land and power; the Mazatecos, Chinantecos, Amuzgos and other groups have different needs and desires. But all want to have more autonomy in their communities, better prices for their products, bilingual education for their children, respect for their cultures, and hope for a brighter future.

Oaxaca – What happened to our “peace”?

On the hillside overlooking the beautiful city of Oaxaca there is a statute of Benito Juarez, Oaxaca’s most famous native son. Juarez’s famous saying, “Respect for the rights of others is peace” is spelled out in white rocks, visible for miles. A year ago the narrow, winding road into town was closed so that it could be widened. Now there is an ugly brown landslide which has eaten away the green mountain and the “peace” is missing from both the saying and the city.

As the whole world knows, Oaxaca has been in turmoil for months. The conflagration that has been smoldering for years finally burst into flame, fanned by hidden people with hidden interests. What has destroyed the peace of Oaxaca?

To understand what is going on you have to discover who Oaxaca is. One of the most fascinating things about the city and state is the coexistence of three completely different societies in the same physical location. In all of the Americas, Oaxaca is the most ethnically diverse area. The ancient populace is Native American, more than a million people speaking 150 varieties of 15 languages. The other two million people in the state are Spanish speakers, originally produced by the rape of Indian women by the “conquistadores” but now making up the majority of the population, called mestizos. The third component of Oaxaca is the foreigners from the entire world who come to enjoy the climate and scenery, the archaeological ruins, the Indian crafts and markets, and the peace of Oaxaca. The Indians till the soil, craft beautiful and practical articles to sell, the foreigners observe and buy, and the Spaniards make a profit on it all. Although there is constant interaction between these groups, each remains complete distinct, for historical reasons.

The Zapotec and Mixtec Indians have inhabited the valley of Oaxaca for thousands of years, sharing and fighting over the lush farmlands watered by the Atoyac River. Cortez, who led the Spanish invasion 500 years ago, demanded the valley as his reward for conquering Mexico. There is a hotel on the town square called “the Marques del Valle” in his honor. The Spanish subjugated the Indian population not just militarily, but spiritually with the forced evangelization by the Dominicans, culturally by burning their codices and enslaving their nobility, and physically by transmitting European diseases which killed close to 90% of the population. After years of conflict Mexico and Oaxaca obtained freedom from Spain and other foreign interests during the time of Benito Juarez, the only Indian president of any Latin American country until recently. Since then a fragile peace has reigned in Oaxaca, with the Indians carrying out their millennial existence of farming, crafts, interlocking markets, and ancient religious practices overlaid with a veneer of Catholicism. They have survived by isolating themselves in the steep mountains and conserving their customs. It is staggering to think that several hundred thousand Oaxacan Indians are still monolingual; 500 years after the Spanish conquest they still have not learned the conquerors’ language.

The arrival of non Spanish foreigners in the last 70 years has changed Oaxaca dramatically. There have been tourists who braved the mountain roads, missionaries who lived among the Indians to translate the scriptures into their languages, engineers mining for gold, hippies looking for cheap high, anthropologists and archeologists who study the past and present Indian cultures, drug lords seeking isolated mountainsides for their crops; entrepreneurs making fortunes, snowbirds seeking sun, surfers riding the best waves at the coast, retirees quietly spending their last years, and radicals from failed revolutions who have found haven in Oaxaca. We all love Oaxaca, but like parties in a marriage, some want her never to change, and some have come to transform her into their vision of paradise.

For the last 4 months a group of teachers - who receive a paycheck from the federal government – and other malcontents have held the city hostage. They have burned busses, closed businesses, caused massive unemployment among Indian craftsmen and sellers, blackened Oaxaca’s good name internationally, scared away the tourists who sustained the economy, frightened the cops off the streets, interrupted all the public works improvements, blanketed the city with graffiti, blockaded the streets, beat up the trash collectors, “liberated” the Radio and television stations, invaded peoples homes, confiscated vehicles, turned the town square into a public bathroom and trash heap, all in their effort to “create a better society.

Amazingly enough, the city has functioned in spite of the efforts to disrupt civilization. The survival of the city is a tribute to the wonderful people of Oaxaca who stop at the intersections, drive carefully down whatever streets are open, buy and sell when they can, patrol their neighborhoods, attend the sick, discuss the situation with their neighbors of different persuasion, and pray for the peace of their city.

Most of the original protesters have gone home, several thousand are marching toward Mexico City, and no more than 4 or 5 thousand are barricaded in a couple areas in the city. There is not popular support for a revolution, 420 of the 570 municipal leaders in the state have asked the national congress to intervene on behalf of the besieged governor. The poor people and Indians are not in revolt, what they want is to be left alone so that they can earn a living, sleep in peace, and have a chance to educate their children for a better life. Those wanting to change Oaxaca have forgotten the wisdom of Benito Juarez, trampled the rights of her citizens, and crushed peace underfoot. There will be no true peace in Oaxaca until the Prince of Peace reigns in individual hearts and lives. May that be soon.

How you know you are in the Amazon?

Q. If it takes 12 hours to go from Iquitos to Pevas, why does it take 24 hours to come back?
A. One way you are going with the flow of the mighty Amazon, and the way back you are fighting the current.

Q. If you get coffee and a roll for breakfast on the short trip, why do you get 3 meals on the 24 hour trip, for the same price?
A. I never figured that one out.

You share a “dorm” with 50 other people sleeping in hammocks on a river boat. You try to sleep on top of your baggage so it will still be there in the morning. Your neighbors are going to a wedding in Pevas, so you get to observe pedicures, fancy hairdos and makeup “a la hamaca”. Never mind that everybody has to walk through 100 feet of ankle deep mud to get in to solid ground.

You dump your leftovers over the side of the boat.
You don’t dump your big empty soda bottles overboard, they make good floats for your fishing net.

Clean is the feeling you have for 5 minutes after a shower, dry is what you remember being about 5 days ago.
You slather on sun screen about 10 minutes before it rains for 5 hours and your poncho is packed under the tarp.

You have to wait for 500 mototaxis to pass before you can cross the street. There are about 50 for each car you see. You hold on for dear life when you ride, and pray that the 50 taxis waiting at your corner for the green light don’t get all tangled up when they take off. Driving in Iquitos means you don’t have to worry about lanes or rules.

The river water is a nice shade of tan, same for the shower water and your coffee water and all the water you are going to see in a long time.
You hang your mosquito net too high and are buzzed all night.
The day after you eat monkey, you are given a BIG rodent to munch on ... mmmm, yummy. You eat your chunk of bush meat carefully so you don’t break a tooth on the beebees they shot the animal with.
You don’t ask what animal the little bits of meat floating in your watery rice came from.

On the way down to the spring (brown water with soap) you slide about 8 feet in your dirty jeans, but get your towel and clean clothes all muddy too, leading to great laughter among the onlookers.
You also have an audience when you use the other facilities, which cannot be described in polite company.

You climb in an out of a small boat covered with mud, with 2 foot sides, onto a muddy bank, about 10 times a day. The rest of the time you sit on an old plank trying not to tip the boat over until it is time to climb in and out again.
This boat is powered by 50 mosquitos tied in a jar - not really; it is a 5 horsepower put-put outboard that is backed up with a paddle.
Strange and exotic birds fly around you on the river banks. You see pink dolphins cavorting just around the next bend of the river. Really.

You drink mate (Argentine tea) with your team mates and play Bible trivia by the hour in the pouring rain. You win sometimes because the names are spelled differently in Spanish and they can’t guess your names.

You get hugs from toothless old ladies who smile and clap when they hear their language spoken from a tape player. You pray for people suffering from rare and interesting diseases. Your blue eyes are the most wonderful thing to come to the far corner of the jungle in many moons.

You thank God for the recordists and linguists who came to these jungles when you were a child, to bring the light and hope of Christ to those who were in darkness but are now in the light. You wish that you could stay and tell them more about Christ, but there is another village to visit, another boat to ride, and another plane to catch.

Gerry, from the Amazon

What I did on my spring break – by Gerry Gutierrez

Distance traveled:
about 12,000 miles on 11 different flights.
2000 miles driven in the van with stops every hour to add water to the radiator or to fix something else.
300 kms on the big river boat at 8.3 k/h, 12 hrs on the put-put at 3 m/h
60 kms on windy mountain dirt roads in Oaxaca.

Countries visited: the US, Mexico, Costa Rica twice, Peru, Venezuela, plus several Indian nations (also known as ethnic groups)

Languages heard: Mostly Spanish, but also Zapotec, English, Bora, Yaguas, Ocaína, Resigaro, and Huitoto: Muinane

Food I ate: monkey, jungle rodent, cassava, manioc, bananas, nameless bush meat, fermented manioc drinks, mate from Argentina, rice and chicken wrapped up in banana leaves, lots of papaya juice and Mexican tacos!

People I met:
Hernan, a Bora speaker who guided us upriver to his village. We saw a Moloca, or round house complete with tree trunk drums, the shaman’s pipes, herbs, and masks.
Julia, Hernan’s aunt who helped with the NT translation as a teenager, 40 years ago. Julia and Hernan have a burden for their Bora clansmen in Colombia, just over the river. Perhaps they can take the gospel to them when our recordists make new tapes in Bora. Julia and Hernan’s grandmother is 110 years old and still alert in her hammock.
Clever, a Resígaro speaker who was named by a missionary wife about 40 years ago. He is very clever, and has won international competition painting jungle scenes on tree bark.
Gloria, Clever’s niece, who was abandoned by her parents and is being raised by her older sister. Gloria is a deaf mute, beautiful little girl of 5 years. She immediately came to me, and commenced hugging and playing with me, as if we were old friends. When I showed her a picture of my family, she picked me out and was very excited. When I gestured to her “my daughter Panchis” she immediately pointed to Panchis’ brown hair and then her own brown curls. She understood that I have a daughter just like her, and from then she wouldn’t let me out of her sight until we left. The team prayed for Gloria, and for several other people in the villages we visited, knowing that God sent us to bless them.
Many homeless street people, homosexuals and pedophiles in Iquitos, preying and being preyed upon. How God’s heart must break for each of them, lost in their misery. How much he wants to bring light, and life and healing for each of them.
A couple dozen pastors, missionaries and their wives, all doing their part to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in Spanish and tribal languages up and down the Amazon and its tributaries. What a tremendous challenge to get to where the people live, then evangelize and disciple them effectively.

What I remember: trying to explain civilization to those living in bamboo huts with palm roofs at the end of the dirt road or beside the river. Trying to explain why I can’t take them with me to live in civilization. How blessed I am to walk the jungle trails, ride the rivers, climb the mountains, and share that world with you, so that you can pray for the work of Gospel Recordings in the Amazon, the Andes, and Mexico.

Gerry, back at home

To my readers

I know that you are out there reading, and I REALLY want to hear from you. If you like or dislike a post, at the bottom there is a place that says, "comments". Click that on, and you have a choice to make a comment, by chosing Other or Anonymous. Whatever you comment can be read by others, and they can comment on it also. Either that or you can write me at gerrygtz@hotmail.com and I will post your comments.

There are four stories posted which have a principle person named Emma, which is hebrew for mother. They have an * in the title. When you figure out who she is write me a comment.
Gerry

My daughter is dying!

Just two years ago my daughter Esperanza was finally dying, after living on the brink of death for a long time. Born blind and deaf, with multiple malformations, she was a living miracle, until her body gave out. On April 20th she suffered respiratory arrest and was kept alive on machines for 20 hours, before her heart stopped.

We had called her “the come back kid”, because she had quit breathing hundreds of times before. Her brain was too small to support her body’s growth, so when she seizured her heart and lungs shut down. Everyone in the family had to resuscitate her numerous times with intravenous Valium and CPR, although as her mother and doctor I bore the brunt of the burden. How many times had we waited in anguish to see if she would regain her tenacious hold on life?

But now she hadn’t snapped back, her brain was dead and only the machines kept her alive. I was in a strange city, hours from the family and days away from the doctors who knew her case and could help us. We were surrounded by strangers who cared little for me and my dying child, who saw her only as a malnourished Indian girl who had outlived her time and usefulness.

All through the night I watched over her and saw her body systems fail, the heart no longer pumping, the kidneys failing, fluid clouding the lungs. After struggling for 3700 days to keep her alive and happy, we had lost the fight, she was dying. I couldn’t contain my anguish and despair, going to the empty parking lot to scream out, “God, she’s dying, Panchis is dying! God, I can’t stand watching her die!”

Then I would go back to the cubicle in the emergency room to keep vigil over her body, so thin and frail, punctured and pierced with tubes and sensors. I couldn’t even hold her, or shield her from the useless probing and poking that would not bring her brain back to life. The medical personnel gave her abbreviated history as they handed her off to the next shift, solemn in the face of my overwhelming grief, but laughing and joking around the next corner. I wanted to scream, to shake them and cry out, “Don’t you see that my daughter is dying? Don’t you care, don’t you see my anguish? Don’t you sense the enormity of her spirit leaving her body, the rending of the bonds that kept her body breathing and feeling and growing and loving? How can you laugh, how can you go on as if nothing is happening?”

But no, polite society doesn’t permit an outpouring of grief. Those whose daughters and sisters and mothers and fathers are not dying don’t want to be reminded of the raw, desperate, irreversible pain of death. And so she died.

Two years later, I remember those hours, reliving the pain and anguish, weeping softly now instead of crying out in my anger and despair. And when I speak to God, he answers, “Yes, child, I know how you felt, it happened to me also.”

“You, my Lord? You know how I felt?”

“Yes, child, I watched my son die for hours, his body pierced and torn. He too was far from home and surrounded by strangers, his mother watching but unable to ease his pain. I too wanted to scream and shake everyone and tell them, ‘my son is dying, how can you be indifferent to his pain?' And I did, I shook the whole earth, I blocked the warmth of the sun’s rays, all of creation was in darkness and shaking for hours. Every tremor of my dying son reverberated to the pillars of the earth, the chill and darkness that came over the earth was a pale reflection of the coldness of death that crept over his tortured form. Every human alive on the earth felt the chill of death that day, the earth melting under their feet, and saw me abandoning my son who was bearing their shame and guilt. You have no idea of the terror people sensed as they whispered to each other “surely this was the son of God . . . we have killed the holy one . . . what have we done? What is going to happen to us now?”

You and I, gentle reader, are part of that crowd who mocked and watched the dying son suffer because of our actions. When we sense the anger and anguish and rage of a holy Father we know he will turn his back on us and abandon us to the darkness and vileness that is within us. Our only hope is to confess what have we done, and like the guilty companion, beg to be remembered on the third day when the darkness and cold and guilt melt away in glorious new life.

Disasters from another point of view - September

One of the first stories I wrote (in May of 2001) dealt with disasters and my idea of how God deals with them. It is called, "The Drill", and is in the first stories in May. What do you think of it?

Gerry

The prophet between God and humanity 

TRUE AND FALSE PROPHETS

There have always been prophets who spent time in God’s council and then spoke His words to his people. These prophets spoke and acted to create in the physical world, that what God is doing the spiritual realm. At the same time there always been false prophets who speak only for themselves, out of their own imagination. The people of God have always had many prophets, speaking opposing messages, from which to choose. Usually the true prophet was out of step and out of favor with the nation, because he followed God and the people did not listen to God. While there was sin but the nation was in prosperity, the prophet spoke of the coming doom and disaster. But when the people had been exiled from the land because of their sin, the prophet spoke words of comfort and restoration. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” In any case, the prophet stood alone, speaking the Lord’s message to his people, entreating them to listen and obey.

Let us consider what Jeremiah and Ezekiel have to say about true and false prophets. As we study the indictment against the false prophets we see what a true prophet should do.

Jer. 1:18 “Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land – against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you.”
5:31 “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?
8:11 “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, Peace,” they say, when there is no peace.
23:10-11 “The prophets follow an evil course, and use their power unjustly. Both prophet and priest are godless, even in my temple I find their wickedness.
:13-18 “The prophets prophesied by Baal, and led my people Israel astray, And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible; They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty says concerning the prophets: I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread through the Land. This is what the Lord Almighty says; “do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you: they fill you with false hopes, They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep saying to those who despise me, The Lord says you will have peace, and to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, “No harm will come to you. But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?
:21 – 22 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message, I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.
:27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name.
:30 I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me, I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, “The Lord declares.” Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” Declares the Lord. ‘They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send of appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least, “declares the Lord.

Chapter 28 is a confrontation between Jeremiah and a false prophet. Jeremiah says in v. 15, “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you yet you persuaded the nation to trust in lies.”

Lamentations 2:14 “The visions of your prophets were false and worthless, they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading.”
Ezekiel 13:5 You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that is will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord.
:10 They lead my people astray, saying, “Peace, when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash.”
:19 You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.
:22 You disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and you encouraged the wicked not to turn for their evil ways and so save their lives.”

At beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry (1:10) God commissioned him, saying “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot, tear down, to destroy, to overthrow, to build and to plant.” In 1995, 10 years after the terrible earthquake in Mexico City, I was 13 stories up overlooking the heart of the city. There were hundreds of buildings that had been damaged and were worthless, but had not been removed. Before you can build physically and spiritually, you have to tear down, destroy and uproot that which has become useless yet takes up valuable land.
In 31:28 God confirms that Jeremiah was doing His work by saying, “Just as I watched over then to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord. It wasn’t until God himself cleaned the land of evildoers that He was able to replant the remnant and rebuild the nation.

As we look at this list of things that the false prophets didn’t do, may the Lord renew our vision of His purpose for us in this generation. May it not be said of us, “they did not benefit these people in the least.”

Gerry Gutierrez
Oaxaca, Mexico
April 2001

Are you still a child of God?

For years I thought of myself as a child of God, a daughter of the most wonderful father in the world. He looked after me, cared for me, and guided my life. My responsibility was to be grateful and obedient, a dutiful daughter.
Over the years I studied medicine and went to work as a humanitarian doctor in a Zapotec village in the mountains of southern Mexico. I delivered over 700 babies to Indian women, keeping watch over them before and after the birth. During these hours I searched scripture to see what it said about birthing practices. I found Ezekiel 16: 4-7 which talked about newborns. “On the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, you weren’t bathed and cleaned up, you weren’t rubbed with salt, you weren’t wrapped in a baby blanket. No one cared a fig for you. No one did one thing to care for you tenderly in these ways. You were thrown out into a vacant lot and left there, dirty and unwashed – a newborn nobody wanted. And then I came by. I saw you all miserable and bloody. Yes, I said to you, lying there helpless and filthy. ‘Live! Grow up like a plant in the field!’ And you did. You grew up.”
As a person who had cut hundreds of umbilical cords, washed the blood from hundreds of newborns and swaddled them for their mothers, I loved reading this passage. Even more moving for me was the fact that I had found two little girls thrown away by their blood kin and had spoken the same words, “Live! Grow up in the shelter of my love!”

But eventually I read the rest of the passage, up to verse 14. “You grew tall and matured as a woman, full-breasted, with flowing hair. But you were naked and vulnerable, fragile and exposed. I came by again and saw you, saw that you were ready for love and a lover. I took care of you, dressed you and protected you. I promised you my love and entered the covenant of marriage with you. I, God, the Master, gave my word. You became mine. I gave you a good bath, washing off all that old blood, and anointed you with aromatic oils. I dressed you in a colorful gown and put leather sandals on your feet. I gave you linen blouses and a fashionable wardrobe of expensive clothing. I adorned you with jewelry. I placed bracelets on your wrists, fitted you out with a necklace, emerald rings, sapphire earrings, and a diamond tiara. You were provided with everything precious and beautiful; with exquisite clothes and elegant food, garnished with honey and oil. You were absolutely stunning. You were a queen! You became world famous; a legendary beauty brought to perfection by my adornments.” Taken from “The Message” by Eugene Peterson.

This visit came about 15 years after the first visit, when God rescued the newborn from the trash heap. The child is a baby no longer, but equally in need of protection and washing from the blood, in this case the blood that signifies maturity and readiness for love. In the first visit the helpless child receives the care, cleansing and breathe of life unwittingly, involuntarily. In the second visit, God as lover woos his bride, bathing, feeding, dressing and adorning her to his heart’s content, and the beloved woman enters into a covenant with Him. She is now old enough to receive his gifts and respond to his love. She knows and senses that He wants more than the gratitude and obedience of a dutiful daughter. She knows (and you know if you are a man) that the relationship involves intimacy, sharing thoughts and dreams, planning and planting, crying and laughing, enjoying each other and working to carry out His plans.
But how many of us are dutiful wives as we were dutiful daughters? When He comes whispering our name do we respond “of course I love you, aren’t I washing and cleaning and ironing your shirts?” In the night when He murmurs in our ear, “beloved, come away to spend time with Me,” do we respond as the beloved in Song of Solomon, “But I’m in my nightgown – do you expect me to get dressed? I’m bathed and in bed – do you want me to get dirty?” I have a hard day’s work tomorrow – do you want me to be sleep deprived? You know you have my full attention for 30 minutes during worship on Sunday, isn’t that enough?”
Well, no, it isn’t enough for Him. He is a jealous lover and He wants more, He wants a passionate bride who rejoices in her gifts, her wonderful position as a covenant bride, who has heard His yearning over the lost and sick and dying and whose greatest joy is to be his hands and feet and voice in this world. He longs for a bride who welcomes His presence at all times, who has nothing better to do than to listen to His voice and hear His thoughts and speak His words.
Isaiah personally responded to God’s call by saying, “Here am I, send me”. But speaking for his people he had to confess in 26:17-18 “Like a woman having a baby, writing in distress, screaming her pain as the baby is being born, that’s how we were because of you, O God. We were pregnant full-term. We writhed in labor but bore no baby. We gave birth to wind. Nothing came of our labor. We produced nothing living. We couldn’t save the world.” God’s purpose in visiting us, in the precious moments of intimacy, is to plant His seed, His vision, in us. How many times have we caught a glimpse of something special that He wants us to do when He touches our life? But how many times have we allowed that dream, that seed, to wither and die because it wasn’t convenient or practical or part of our life plan? “Yes, God,” we say, “keep visiting us and blessing us and giving us wonderful gifts. But don’t expect US to incubate your dreams, to give birth to your spiritual children, to labor and strain and cry out over the lost world. We want to keep playing as children instead of growing up.”

Are you still a child of God?

What are you crying over?

The births and deaths of hundreds of people are recorded in the Bible, but only one can be linked with a verifiable date – August 14, 586 B. C. On that date the city of Jerusalem was burned and destroyed for the first time, and on that date a delightful woman died, the wife of Ezekiel the prophet. When God speaks to Ezekiel, he says, “at one blow I am going to remove the delight of your eyes. Don’t weep or mourn, grieve quietly, as a sign to the house of Israel in exile.” (My paraphrase) Ezekiel preached to the people in the morning and at evening his wife died, a prophetic symbol, a pawn in God’s hands.

I was shocked when I realized that God would snuff out the life of Ezekiel’s wife, the delight of his eyes, just to illustrate a truth to his people. And then he told his servant not to mourn or wail or express his feelings! What kind of God do we serve? With these questions in mind I went back to the beginning of the book to take a deeper look.

Ezekiel was chosen by God to be his spokesman in captivity, to speak God’s heart to the exiles in Babylon who awaited news about the fate of their beloved Jerusalem. It was a terrible job, since both the exiles and those back in Judah were a rebellious people who would not repent of their sins. Up to the 24th chapter, Ezekiel is told to mourn, wail, and grieve, but when his wife dies he is not to do that. So in God’s opinion what should we mourn and not mourn?

We should not mourn and bewail the loss of our loved ones who die and go to God’s presence, as is taught in the writings of the apostles. We should not mourn the loss of our earthly goods or when we are persecuted or mistreated by the world.

What should we mourn? According to the book of Ezekiel this is what should break our heart and drive us to our knees.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out "Alas!" because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague. 6:11

Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it." 9:4

"Son of man, tremble as you eat your food, and shudder in fear as you drink your water. Say to the people of the land: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says about those living in Jerusalem and in the land of Israel: They will eat their food in anxiety and drink their water in despair, for their land will be stripped of everything in it because of the violence of all who live there. 12: 18-19


Therefore groan, son of man! Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief. And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every knee become as weak as water. 21:6-7

"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD. 22:30


Our heart should break and we should cry out over the destruction that awaits those who continue to reject God, those who insist on following evil. Our hearts cry should be that of the just God who none the less cries out, “Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” 18:30-32

What is your reaction to the eternal damnation of your neighbors, the homeless in your streets, the prostitutes on your corners, the corruption and greed in your city, the lost tribes in the jungles of the Amazon, those worshiping false gods in Asia and Africa? Do you care about them, or the pain God feels when he sees them wandering blindly through life and into the abyss?

For God, Jerusalem was and is the delight of his eyes, the city he founded and make beautiful, the joy of the whole earth. When his people made a temple for him, a resting place for his glory, it brought him honor and great joy. Now he is forced to withdraw himself from that sanctuary, because it has become vile and filthy. His cry rings out in 8:6, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing— the utterly detestable things the house of Israel is doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary?”

That is why Ezekiel’s wife had to die, so that he could feel the terrible sorrow and anguish of God almighty, who wanted at least one human to share his indescribable pain over the consequences of sin and evil.

What are you crying over?

Long lost brothers and sisters at the BL reunion

Last week I went to my 40th year high school reunion in Asheville, North Carolina. It was great to see my classmates from long ago. There were several remarkable things about our class of 28. Over half of us were missionary children whose parents made a great sacrifice to send us to Ben Lippen. Some of us were raised in Brazil, Haiti, Mexico, Japan, India, and other countries, and we didn´t even talk about that back then! We didn´t realize the privilidge of knowing other cultures and languages, we just wanted to be typical American teens and blend into life in ¨the states¨. Of our small group, there has been only one divorce among the couples we know, and 3 or 4 of the classmates met their future spouse at BL! Another characteristic of those who went to the reunion was that most of us have adopted children, some more than one. What a debt we owe to those dedicated teachers and counselors who shaped our characters during those critical teen years.

One of our favorite things at school was singing, most of us were in the choir. At the reunion we had a catered lunch, and the waitress stood and listened to us sing for about 90 minutes instead of eating our meal. The songs from the past nourished our spirits more than the food our bodies. As our alma mater says, ¨Hail to thee, Lord of Ben Lippen, hail to thee on high.¨

Acsah’s springs

How would you like to be a door prize in a military campaign? Acsah’s father, Caleb, offers her to the soldier who conquers a city that has resisted the army of Israel. His nephew, Othniel, wins the city and the girl’s hand. What a way to start a marriage!

But that is exactly what Caleb wanted, a valiant warrior to be his daughter’s husband. He had been a scout, a soldier, a companion of Joshua in campaigns, and a leader of Israel in the wilderness. He knew that his daughter was a strong woman, with a warrior’s heart, and wanted someone worthy of leading her, of putting to use all her talents and energy. Therefore he devised a contest to find the best man to wed Acsah, and in effect, inherit his own authority.

After the wedding Acsah and Othniel go to Caleb to ask for a wedding present. Acsah says, “Father, you have given me land, now give me springs of water to work my inheritance.” And Caleb, great warrior and leader in Israel, rejoices in his daughter’s boldness and gives her the upper and lower springs.

Daughters of Israel, don’t settle for just a good man, search out someone with fire and a vision that will take all your strength and passion to fulfill. If God has given you land, your place of work in his Kingdom, be persistent to ask for the abundant water supply you need to make your inheritance flourish. Mothers and fathers, work with your children to find a mate worthy of their calling before God. Young men, future judges and leaders of God’s people, don’t be taken in by physical beauty, seek the daughters of Caleb who have inherited the faith and perseverance of their fathers, and who know to pray in the abundant resources you both will need. May your wife have those deep wells that will refresh you, make your ministry fruitful, and grace your home.

The prayers Jesus never prayed

According to Hebrews 5:7, During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

There is no recorded instance of Jesus praying for something that was not granted, he always prayed knowing that his prayers would be answered favorably. He was confident that his Father could and would grant everything that he asked for.

Therefore, if Jesus did not receive something, it is because he did not ask for it, knowing that God did not want it for him. What didn’t he pray for?

That his body might be nourished by stones instead of the living Word of God, during his temptation.

That God’s angels might protect him from reckless acts.

That he might have a place to lay his head, a nice donkey to ride, or at least a rolling suitcase.

A wife to look after him, the earthly joys of home and hearth.

For God to hear him and give him what he wanted

Fire to come down and destroy his enemies, as his disciples wanted.

Shelter and a shrine to commemorate his visit with the time travelers who came to visit him and prepare him for his death.

That we might be taken out of the world, he only desired to have us protected from the evil one ruling the world.

Mercy from those who judged, condemned, beat and crucified him.

To be spared from death – he accepted his Father’s will that he die in atonement for our sins.

Psalm 106:14-15 talks about the Children of Israel, “In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them.”

What are you and I asking God for? Will He give in to our petulant prayers but not be pleased? What should we request from the Father?

Letter from a traveler in a far country

Dear Dad,

I just don’t understand these people, they are so pushy. First Emma puts me on the spot at the wedding. “They’re out of wine, don’t let my friends be embarrassed in front of their guests, please, son.”

And even after I tell her to chill out, that I’m not ready to go public, she still tells the servants, “Do what he tells you, “ and they run get water to be turned into wine! So what do I have to do to keep Mama happy but start doing miracles.

And then I heal the leper and tell him not to tell everybody, so I can keep on teaching in all the villages, and what does he do? Go and blab to all the lepers he knows, “this guy can heal us and restore us to being normal human beings! Run, crawl or drag yourself to him!” You’d think there was no other way to be clean, the way every leper and his cousin came out of the woodwork.

Remember when my friend was so sick, and I told my students, “its OK, we don’t have to go rushing back, he’ll be alright.” But no, they got all hot and bothered, “he’s gonna die, we know it.” And sure enough, he did, these people are so fragile, the least thing and they slip away. I had no idea how weak and sickly they are, and how everybody freaks out when someone gets sick. His sisters, you should have seen his sisters, crying and being hysterical – like they thought he’d stay dead! Dad, that really got to me. And the widow burying her only son! Talk about pushy, she was desperate. “I’m being put out on the street, he was my only hope, help me!” and now I’m going around healing the dead! Remind me to stay away from the cemeteries, they’re all popping back up.

The sick just keep pouring out of the houses. In church on Sunday I had to heal a man with a paralyzed arm because he got up and made a ruckus. You should have seen the ushers, they almost had a coronary. And the lady with cervical cancer, and the little dead girl and on and on. You’d think there wasn’t a decent doctor in the whole country!

I can’t even walk down the street without having the blind scream out, “Son of David, heal me!” I guess the eye surgeon costs too much for them and their Seeing Eye dog died! What is it with these people?

You know, Dad, you were right to send me here and live among them and see how they really live and feel. Where we live things are calm, we can take the long view and know that things are going to work out well. But people here are frantic, their lives hang by a thread, and they know it. They used to live hundreds of years, travel, learn, enjoy seeing multiple generations of descendents, but now they are like the grass and flowers which bloom for just one season. No wonder they are so impatient, so desperate. I had no idea how bad things really are for them.

You know, Dad, the only ones who aren’t happy to have me arrive, are the nasties that foul up so many hearts down here? As soon as they get near me, they scream, “Get away from us, Son of the Most High! Are you going to send us back to the abyss so soon, it’s not time yet?” Well, I guess they are the only things that aren’t happy to see me so soon, but that is not the kind of publicity I want.

Dad, I guess the worst thing is that I can’t stay here forever. How can I go back home and leave these people to keep on shriveling and dying? I’d like to teach my students how to heal and do all the neat things I do, but they hardly believe what they see me doing every day. I can give them the power to do it, but lifetimes of suffering and misery have almost destroyed their faith that we can fix things. If they would just step out in faith! Some times putting up with them almost makes me despair that they will ever catch on. There is so little time and so much to teach them. Oh no, I almost caught their desperation!

Well, thanks for listening, Dad, I feel better already.

Your loving son

My two girls that used to be very good. Tava is the bigger sister, Panchis the little sister. 

Gerry with Panchis at home in Oaxaca 

Panchis with a friend in Australia 

I used to have two "very good" daughters

God has blessed me with two beautiful daughters, and in different ways they used to be "very good".

My first daughter, Tava, was given to me and my husband in 1979, by her birth father. Her mother had died when she was 14 months old, and she had been passed around from home to home until she was almost dead. When we took her she weighted 10 lbs., at 2 1/2 years old, about to die. We took her in when our firstborn son was also 2 1/2 years old, and found that they were only 24 hours apart in age, our twins.
After Tava regained her health, she was a wonderful addition to the family, and 8 months later I had a second son, Gabriel. The three children grew up together, in our Zapotec village, Loxicha. The boys were typical boys, tearing down the house, while Tava was quieter and more gentle. The boys needed to be handled firmly, Tava responded to a simple frown. She never talked back, was always helpful, and never fussed, she was "very good".
Since we were the only Anglo family in town, with a Zapotec daughter, people would stop and talk with me on the road. "Where did you get her? Is her mother dead, where is she buried? Whose family is she? " It was impossible to hide her different roots, even if we had wanted to.
When the kids were preteens, all three got chickenpox. One of the boys got sick first, then Tava, then the other boy. Our sons didn't suffer much, since people with European roots have more immunity than Native Americans. Tava was very ill, and spend many days in bed, and I took very good care of her. When she was recovering, she commented, "I didn't expect you to take such good care of me."
I was surprised, and sought to find out what she meant. People had told her over the years, "don't give the lady any trouble, or she will throw you out." So for 10 years Tava had been good, very good, so I wouldn't throw her out of our home. I explained how much trouble we had gone through to legally adopt her so that no one could take her away from us, that we were her family for ever. It took a year and all the $ we had to make her ours, we would never give her up. Back in the 1980's in rural Oaxaca adoptions were rare, her papers are stamped 001, on page 1 of the book of adoptions for our county.
When Tava felt better, she stopped being "good" and started being a normal, fussy, picky girl. Not too much, but enough that we knew that she finally felt at home and safe.
How do you feel with God? Are you trying to be "very good" so he will let you into his home eventually? Or are you at home and safe in his love?

Panchis was also very good, in a different way.

God gave me a second daughter, also a Zapotec Indian abandoned by her family. Esperanza was born with multiple malformations which made it impossible for her mother to raise her. When we got her she was blind, deaf, and with no anus for defecation. She had lived on her body fat since birth, and weighed less than 4 pounds at 40 days old. During the first year that we had her she grew very little, since the doctors in Oaxaca had no experience with such severely deformed children. I was told over and over, "take her home to die, it is not worth trying to help her. There are other children who need our help and are worth saving."
But we had called her Esperanza, which means Hope, and put our hope in God for her life. When she had a shunt put in her brain, she began to hear, and at a year she began to see, with no medical explanation. She weighed 8 pounds at her first birthday, and soon was given a colostomy which enabled her to defecate and begin to eat better. At 2 years she could sit up and scoot around on her bottom. She never walked, never talked, and could only eat finger food by herself. For almost 11 years I carried her, diapered her, fed her, shouldered the huge burden of keeping her alive, and loved her immensly.
Among her many problems was the fact that her brain was very small, she didn't have enough neurons to do more than a year old baby could. As her body grew, she was less and less able to move or control it. In addition, her neurological condition caused her to seizure to the point of cardiopulmonary arrest. All her life someone had to be in the room with her, because she would convulse and quit breathing within a minute or two, sometimes 20-30 times a week. Life with Panchis, as we called her, was very exciting, as we had to do CPR and give her meds at the same time.
The funny thing was that people would see her in her special stroller, or sitting quietly on my lap, and remark, "Oh, she is such a good little girl! She isn't running around and climbing on the chairs, and jabbering 24/7 like my child. She doesn't get dirty, or make messes, or drive you nuts with questions. She is so good!"
Yes, she was very good, if by good you mean passive, not stretching you as a mother, never able to ask why is the sky blue, never being able to run or swing or help you bake cookies, never able to say, "Mother, I love you so much!" I would have given any thing I had to have her be "bad" and live a normal life.
Panchis isn't "very good" any more, because a year ago she died and went to heaven. Now she can jump and fly and chatter all she wants, throw kisses to Jesus, and wait for me and her family to join her.
If you have little children, don't expect them to be "good", just let them be loved, and send them forth to explore the world. That is why they are here, that is why God gave them to you.

Gerry Gutierrez, Oaxaca, June 2005

Link to the Mixteco Indians

http://www.peopleteams.com/mixteco/default.htm

The death of my best friend

The death of my best friend
I recently commemorated the death of my best friend, which happened some years ago. As I think back over our relationship I rejoiced in all the ways he showed his friendship. How many times he called me up and said, “Gerry, can we get together and talk? How are things going in your life, how is your family doing?”
Of all the people I know he was the one I could always talk to, because he knew all my past and still liked me. Wow! You know, the kind of a friend that you can call on in the middle of the night and he would listen. Of course he often had to tell me that some of my messes were my own fault, but I have to admit that he was always right. And it was such a comfort to be able to count on him laughing at my funny stories and crying over my sad ones.
And he was important, had a high position in some mysterious company that I never understood much about. Just hints, of course, he would feed me some fabulous meals and give me extravagant gifts – sometimes he would say, “Gerry, I made this sunset just for you, and sent the birds to sing outside your windows.” How many friends would do that for you?

The best part was when he would send me on errands, sometimes to my neighbor next door, and sometimes around the world. He’d say, “Gerry, I need somebody to take a message to that cashier in the checkout line,” or “pop down to Lima next weekend, I need you to remind some friends down there that I still have work for them to do and that the check IS in the mail.” He had such far flung interests, and yet he always had some errand to run for him, things that he said only I could do. What challenges he threw my way – look after foster children, open my home to some pretty unsavory characters, give cups of cold water and sandwiches with his company logo to the bag ladies living under the bridges, climb the highest peaks of the Andes to buy a blanket from a Quechua Indian and whisper my friend’s name in her ear, canoe down a small tributary of the Amazon to a remote cluster of huts and invite them to be part my friend’s company of friends.

He had friends everywhere I went on his business, all over the world. On the plane, at the beach, in the markets – big and small – you could just tell them by their smile and helpful hands. We’d start to talk and sure enough, they were part of his volunteer corps, giving out cold water and taking messages in their corner of the world.

But I’ve gotten sidetracked, I wanted to tell you how he died. You know, I’m a doctor and have seen dozens of deaths, and have thought about the best kind of death you could have. The person should be very old, so that death is just a slowing down of the body processes. There should be no pain, the person alert, surrounded by loving friends and grateful family, full of dignity and honors. The final goodbyes, and then the last peaceful breath.

But my friend didn’t die that way, not at all. His was an untimely death, cut off in the prime of his life, and not from natural causes – no, he was nailed to a tree and left to die by suffocation. Since he was hanging by his hands his chest couldn’t expand, and he had to push up with his legs with each breath. And dignity? Would you call being stripped and naked in front of his friends and his mother dignified? They had to watch people spit at him and hit him and mock him. And this painful, violent, shameful death was totally unnecessary, a tragic mistake. He was falsely accused of horrible things – rape, murder, robbery, incest, rebellion, false claims of divinity, wife beating, abortion – and he didn’t deny it! He could have gotten out of that terrible pain and disgrace and abandonment if he had just cried out, “No, I didn’t do all those terrible things, Gerry did them, Tom did them, George did them, Frank did them. Let them come to die here.” But he didn’t say that, he just died in my place.

So I remember his death with immense gratitude, the death of my best friend. Of course, he didn’t stay dead, but that is another story.

Gerry Gutierrez, Westwood, April 2005

The most Honorable Man

The most Honorable Man

“Carry this report back to the King immediately,” the field commander barked to the scout, “he specifically asked for you.”

The scout took the parcel and got ready for a trip back to his home town. After he stopped by the palace he could go home and spend the night with his sweet wife before heading back to camp. As he thought of her his long legs strode across field and stream, the miles speeding by effortlessly.
How blessed he was to have found his dear little wife! She had been the daughter of the wisest field general he had known, the apple of her father’s eyes. Long used to soldiers coming in and out of her home, she had not taken any of the young men seriously. He had loved her ever since she was a child playing in the courtyard. As she grew into woman-hood her beauty was only matched by her gracious ways. She had the innocence of her mother but her father’s good sense.
When she was of the age to be given as wife, there were many who sought her hand but she had been pleased have her parents arrange her marriage. Since he was older and battle scarred the scout had been greatly touched when his old friend had approached him and hinted that the scout’s suit would meet with open doors. Even more amazing was that she had gladly given him not just the first bloom of her young love, but her heart also. If only he could give her a child, many children, to play and chatter and grow into the sons she would need if he were to die in battle. How wonderful it would be to grow old surrounded by his fruitful wife and the children born of their love. Perhaps even tonight she would tell him of the blessed promise growing in her depths.

As he approached the city he switched back into his soldiering thoughts and attitudes. The reason that he was so highly regarded in his field was because of his uncanny ability to see, hear, smell, and feel what was going on in any place or situation. He had trained himself to notice and observe what others passed over – the little details that spoke of what was being hidden, the threads that in themselves meant little but that woven together by his experienced mind lead to unusual patterns hidden to others.

Now the soldier walked through the city streets, saluting the gatekeeper, greeting old friends, buying a piece of bread to gnaw, noting who had the freshest flowers to be taken to his wife after his business at the palace was done. The closer he got to the barracks and the palace, the more uneasy he grew, something was slightly off. He couldn’t put his finger on it and decided that he had forgotten city ways after months with his fellow soldiers fighting against their enemy. Finish with the king, he thought, and then to enjoy a wonderful evening with his wife, his little lamb.

As he entered the palace the doorkeeper startled when he saw the scout, and recovering himself, stammered, “Sir, we weren’t expecting you! But come in, how good it is to have you back from the battle. How is it going there?” As the scout replied and entered the palace he was on full alert – something was definitely wrong and it involved him. What could it be?

As he approached the king, his heart rejoiced again that he served such an incredible person – first a shepherd, then an outlaw hiding in caves, before being crowned king. Who would have thought that he, the scout, would have lived so long to see his friend sitting on the splendid throne, in the cedar palace, in a new city on the hill they had both conquered. They embraced, and the king asked for the news of the battle, as he always did. The scout handed over the report, and noted that his old friend seemed ill at ease, perhaps a bit pudgy, not rested and alert as he had been the last time they talked.
“Friend, I thank you for carrying the burden of the battle, and bringing this report. Now you can go home and relax for a day or two, before you have to go back to the front. Enjoy yourself, you have earned some time off,” his leader told him.
As the scout embraced his friend and turned to leave, he caught the faintest whiff of perfume that seemed familiar but out of place. Where had he smelled it before…perhaps if he mentioned it to his wife she would remember, she was very good about creating not just visual beauty but perfuming the world in which she lived. Ah, to be with her again, he thought as his steps quickened.
But of course he had to go by the barracks on his way home and report in before taking his leave. As he approached he noticed that small groups of men would watch him approach, say something and then smile a funny little smile. Really, he had to talk to his closest friend, the barracks commander, something was very wrong. If he heard the latest gossip about the army, perhaps that would help him shake off his disquiet.

In his home not far away, his wife hurried about preparing for his surprise visit – everything must be just right, so much depended on it. She was freshly bathed and coifed, the sumptuous meal laid out and ready to be cooked, wine and fruit stood on the sideboard, the bedroom clean and welcoming. How eagerly he would stride in the door, sweep her up in his big rough arms, kiss her with lips salty from his long walk. And even after longing for her for weeks, he would bathe, sup with her, listen to her happy chatter, and then, only then draw her close in his embrace. He treasured her so much, he blessed the One above for giving him such a fragile flower to hold that he was gentle beyond knowing.

Oh, yes, she knew the difference now between his loving and that of the other. The other had many wives, much wealth, charm and sophistication, feasted at banquets, had men and women dancing in his honor and singing his songs, and He sent armies of simple men like her husband off to fight battles while he ruled everything he saw. How incredible that when she took her ritual bath outside several months ago, hot and sticky inside the house but fresh and carefree in the cool moonlight, he had seen her. And when he saw her, he wanted her!

She shook her head, now was not the time to dreaming of Him, when she had to welcome her husband and make him sleep with her so that later he would think that the swelling in her belly was his. Well, now she knew a few more tricks to please him and enthrall him. Really, what was taking so long? Her maid had reported that he had already been to the palace, he should have been home long ago. He never stopped at the wine shops like other soldiers, he desired above all else to be home with her, enjoy her cooking, smile at her artless stories, be covered with her kisses, watch her sleep.

As her table grew cold, and the candles wavered and burned out, she panicked. Their plan wasn’t going to work, he smelled a trap. All night she tossed and turned in her lonely bed, agonizing over her dilemma. He just had to come sleep with her, she couldn’t be branded publicly as just one more unfaithfully wife of a noble man who betrayed him while he was away. And with the king, no less! The king who would even now be feasting with his nobles, enjoying fine wine and music, while she sat in the ruins of her life.

At daybreak her maid took a note to the palace, entering by the not so secret door, “He didn’t come home. Help!” She never noticed the beggar leaning up against the palace, huddled against the cold morning air. But he noticed his wife’s maid sneaking word to her lover of their failed plans. Now what would they cook up to cover their tracks?
And what was he going to do with the broken shards of his life?

Back at the barracks the summons came to dine with the king that evening. His old friend, subtly changed, showed off all his wealth and splendor, and plied him with wine, women and song. Surely the scout understood what was at stake, surely he would do this one simple thing for the king, just sleep with his wife and pretend that the son she carried was his. Was that so hard?
Indeed, the scout thought long and hard about the choice the king wordlessly gave him – sleep with your wife and raise my child, the child you haven’t been able to give her, cover our shame, but live. Otherwise you have to die, because we will not tolerate your outrage.
Could he do that for his king? He had done harder things, risked his life not one time but many. He was one of the thirty bravest warriors in the army, the elite. Yes, he could choose to serve the king and have a wonderful son. What he could not do was face the change in his wife. She who had come to his arms full of innocence and artless love, now waiting to seduce him, to deceive him after leaving her perfume and her fluids on the bed and body of another. How could he love the king’s child as his own flesh, knowing that her body would receive seed from another and not his? How could he lift his head among his fellow soldiers while they made jokes behind his back? How could he fight battles for the man who snuck into his bed while he slept on the ground?

All night he pondered his choices as his wife again waited with her smile and table and bed prepared. The king had said that he would send the scout home, drunk but homeward bound. Well, drunk she had seen in other soldiers, not her husband, but if a few sloppy kisses would serve the purpose, she could do that. But as the night came in and she sat alone as before, her defenses crumbled. He wasn’t coming, he never got drunk, how stupid to think that would work. That would work for most of the men at the king’s court, of course, but not her husband, she could see that now.
He was the most clear headed, farsighted, honorable person she ever knew. How pleased she had been when her father and mother had told her of their marriage. “He is older, but there is no one who will be more tender with you and cherish you than he will.”
And for years she had basked in that love, sheltered by his name and love even when he was far away. Now when she went out she saw her friends disapproving glances, the snickers of the soldiers, his supposed friends offering more than friendship with their glances. Dear God, what had she done? Exchanged the pure and spotless love of a noble heart for the stolen caresses of one who had caressed many other breasts and kissed many other mouths. Oh, if only he would come she would fall to her knees and confess her sin and beg to be forgiven. Would he come, please come, she pleaded as she wept through the endless night.

At daybreak he took the final message from the king to the field commander, the message sending him to his death. He would not sully the memory of his dear wife by gazing on the false, painted woman who now walked in her clothes. Better far to die with an untarnished picture of her in his heart, the heart of the most noble of men.

Gerry Gutierrez, Westwood, 2005

* Preparing the Way-man, the Truth, and two baby boys

Preparing the Way-man, the Truth, and two baby boys
The Arranger went over the list of things he had to arrange for the Fleshing to happen:
- two sets of parents – an older couple for the Way-man and a younger one for the Child
- a Wicked King
- two heralds – male and female
- world peace, a common culture, and good roads
- the Festivities – really, this last had caused more problems than any other because the Watchers had wanted aurora borealis for all the world. Of course that meant the Arrange had to cause the sun to flare, well, it was just too gaudy, even for the birth of the Child. Finally the Awesome one had decided on a simple heavenly choir – made up of Watchers, of course, plus a star in the east to alert the king-makers who would have to come and confirm the birth of the Child.
- The Heavenly Spokesperson was ready – he had been busy flying back and forth in time telling the Writers clues to be planted in the Holy Writings for the most important event in history. The Awesome one wouldn’t entrust the Announcement to anyone but his Hero, Gabriel.
- Minor personages such as the Sheep herders and inn keepers and poll tax collectors and soldiers … and the donkey, he almost forgot the sturdy beast whose grandson would also be important – but that was another event he had to Arrange.

The Arranger hummed quietly as he nudged and arranged the final happenings which would precede the Seeding of the boys. How he love his job, overseeing thousands of lives and working all things according the purposes of the Awesome one for the good of those who loved him!
Right then the Awesome one sent a tendril of thought his way, “are you sure that Emma won’t be frightened when I overshadow her? The Seeding requires her acceptance and cooperation.”
The Arranger replied, “I’ve been preparing her since she was a child, sending sparks of love, giving her promises and whispering in her ear that she is special. Other than a few moments of straying and choosing her own way, she has responded to Our voice. Her father and mother are the result of several centuries of shaping and molding to produce their genes and character, since they had to prepare a woman different from most of the peasant girls in her era. They had teach her to read, to work with her hands, to have a quiet and gentle spirit, to keep her own counsel, have good judgment, to trust them and by extension, Us. Above all, she has learned to hear our voice in the intimacy of her family and in the House of Prayer. When Gabriel speaks to her and you begin to pour out love to her, she will respond. It is the season of receptivity in her life, although she dreams only of the Carpenter. And have you observed Seedings enough to touch her gently? “
The Awesome one replied, “I have centuries of observing this race of people, fragile as the flowers of the field which spring up in the morning and wither at night. Choosing the X and Y chromosomes for each person for thousands of generations of Seedings and overseeing the growth in the mother and fleshing the bones and sinews and breathing life into each born since the First Man has taught me how to be gentle. But Seeding the Child into one of them – combining Our seed with theirs to produce a Son of Man and Ours – Fleshing Ourselves with their frailty to feel their pain and live among them – We’ve never done that. The Child must be sure that it will be done with out harming his Emma.”

The Arranger spoke, “We will have Watchers set up a safe zone around the parents of the Way-man from the time of his Seeding, perhaps we should have Emma moved there for her Seeding and the shaping of the Child also. We must be careful to send just Our shadow over her, softly and slowly, as she opens her heart and body to accept the Seeding of the Child. She will be loved and known and cherished in a way that no other person has or will be. Because of the Seeding and Fleshing she will be the most famous woman to ever live since the First Woman.”
“Yes, I see that you have chosen her well, and prepared her for the Seeding. And her relatives, the parents of the Way-man?” He continued, “tell me of them.”
The Arranger replied, “Well, as we decided, both they and the heralds are two generations older than Emma. Way-man’s father has been selected to serve in the House of Prayer, and thinks that this will be the high point of his life, since he has no children. His wife, Emma’s aunt, has been resigned to her shameful state and only prays that she doesn’t outlive her husband and be left in the street. The Heralds also are ready, for years they have been living in the House of Prayer telling those who love us that We are shaping events, that the Fleshing is about to happen. Really, there is beginning to be a stirring, sparks of life among the dead coals that only need Our breath to be fanned into flames.”
“Yes, the plan of the ages is about to come to pass, the Child who will become the Second Man is ready. But one last question,” murmered the Awesome one. “How will you get the Child’s Emma and the Carpenter to the City of David before the birth? The Carpenter won’t want to move Emma once she is carrying the Child.”
“Ah, well, I nudged the local ruler to declaring a Numbering which requires everyone to return to their ancestral home. The Carpenter will resist, as he will the idea of being a surrogate father, so we will have to send the Spokesman to visit him also. Really, since we chose him to be a strong shaper of wood and character, as well as protect Emma and the Child, we couldn’t combine that with the mysticism and sensitivity to Our voice we got in Emma. But together they will provide the home, security, and training that the Child needs after the Fleshing.”
And so the Arranger, the Awesome one and the Child set in motion the Fleshing which became the rescue of our lives from the rule of evil.

Learning from my mistakes

Recently I have been frustrated at a relationship that has been damaged. Some friends just had a child, and are struggling to adjust to the change in their lives. I have helped over a thousand women give birth and bond with their babies, so it is hard to be shut out of my friend’s lives at this crucial time. They are stressed out and making mistakes that I could help them avoid. I know that our friendship will be restored, but how much needless hurt will happen to them and their child, and how much time will be lost that we could have enjoyed together.
While I was praying about our past, present and future hurts, God whispered softly to my heart, “Child, think about your life and my love. I am very wise and have offered to guide your steps many times. You are prone to do the same thing as your friends. Instead of coming to me for help and wisdom you think, ‘I know what to do, how to guide my own steps. I want to do it my way.’
“When you think and live this way, I don’t get mad at you, but it makes me so sad to see you make bad choices, that will lead to years of pain and tears. Just ask for my help, ask for my wisdom, admit that you can’t guide your path through life without me. I love to make things better, to fix your messes. Don’t shut me out now when you need me the most. Give me a chance!”

I can do that today, and so can you. Gerry

The Vacuum

The Vacuum

The woman thought of herself as a cold, scaly lizard perched on a rock, trying to absorb enough energy from the bright sun to continue. Her hands were withered and dry, her frame shrunken from the constant drain of vital fluids from her deep wound. She sat quietly, shaken from the short walk from her friend’s home just around the bend. This was her last hope, her last day to live in misery. Her friend had mentioned that the Healer was coming to the village, if you could dignify a handful of families with that name. The Healer, she thought to herself angrily, surely he was a quack like all those others who had sucked up all her family’s money over the years, put her through endless probing and tearing and shame only to leave her more wounded than before.
As the sun restored her feeble strength, she thought again of her family – her dear strong John who must be in agony not knowing her whereabouts and cursing himself for not being able to cure or protect or even hold her close; her dear children who over the years and been concerned, then bored, then repelled by the constant weakness and smells and crying; her mother and sisters long dead with the same bloody wretchedness; her friends at first sympathetic but as the long years dragged on, grew tired of her same sad story and moved on to more cheerful pastimes.
As the woman saw that her family shunned her more and more she acted out her final gift of love. Taking a small sum of money she had hidden, she fled to a distant relative in a far town to spare them the grief of seeing her waste away. The money was almost gone, she only ate enough to keep her body from crying out as she waited for death, which would be a welcome end to her suffering. Unless the Healer… if she could just talk to him quietly, explain her problem and hear his advice…it was too much to hope that he would examine her privately since she had nothing to offer him…
She was startled out of her musings by the noisy crowd approaching, surround-ding a tall man striding down the road – the Healer was about to pass her by and she could barely see him for the throng of people. With renewed strength she jumped to her feet and began to push her way through the mass of people, desperate to get close, to touch his clothes at least. Knocked about by stronger bodies, she stumbled and as she fell to her knees managed to grab the hem of his robe.
Astounded by the shock of energy that charged through her she sat in the dust, feeling life surging from her fingertips to every part of her body, swirling joyfully in all her bones and coursing through her blood, drying her wound and renewing her youth. Oblivious to her surroundings, she didn’t notice the crowd had grown silent around the Healer, who had demanded, “Who touched me? I felt my life force go out in healing, who drew it out?”
Looking around He saw her sitting in the dust, entranced with her now strong hands and arms. His quiet gaze finally broke through to her as he repeated, “Who touched me? “
She who had spent years hiding her shame, blurted out her wounding, her anguish, her hopelessness, even as her body inside her rags and dirt shouted out health and vitality. The Healer smiled that sweet smile as he replied, “Go in peace, your suffering has ended. Of all those hundreds who jostled against me, only you had the desperation and faith to draw out my healing power. Go back to those who love you, bearing gifts of strength and dignity and joy.” And she did.

Gerry Gutierrez, Oaxaca, Mexico 1996