Archives for July 2007

Praying for the Neighbors
Over at Evangelism Coach, I write about beginning to pray for our neighbors.

Even before we left America, we were beginning to pray for those in our immediate area. As part of the discernment, this is the neighborhood and building that we felt led to move into. Knowing that God directs our steps in His sovereignty, we know that we will accomplish some kingdom purpose here.

This idea of praying for your neighbors, getting to know them, and to demonstrate the love of Jesus in tangible ways, is part of the missional lifestyle. It’s observing those around you, noticing, and listening to the Spirit’s prompting about conversations. Eventually conversations will follow.

We don’t know our neighbors yet. We see the maintenance man and security guards everyday as we come and go. We’ve met one or two in an elevator and exchange plesantries (people here don’t talk in elevators either for the most part either), but we’re still the new folks in the building.

We’ll probably make a big scene when our cargo arrives in a few weeks and people get to see how much stuff Americans pay to move when they resettle here. We’ve already wondered if we packed too much in that 20′ container and will it all fit.

Walking around
The other activity we do a lot of is walking. No car, so we walk.

We’re Walkers, what do we do?

We’re learning the bus system, use taxis to get home from wherever we have walked. Doing so gives us a chance to observe the hustle and bustle of the city. To watch people. To listen to glimpses of conversations as we walk past crowded bus stops.

We begin to get a sense of a city’s heartbeat by just taking the time to watch and prayerfully learn. Nehemiah took the time to pray after he got to Jerusalem, and one of my mentors has encouraged our family to do the same — take the time to pray and listen for God’s activity in the city.

Let me ask you this?
Are you praying for your neighbors? Do you have a sense of God’s vision for where you live?

For now, the church that our family will connect with is Centro Cristiano Betania, in the Foursquare denomination. We have visited the church on three of our last trips to Panama and have enjoyed the services, experienced the worship, and in each case, solid biblical teaching.

We’ve been welcomed by people in the congregation every time we’ve visited. Even though its a large church, several hands of welcome have been extended to us. Since I stick out like an American, people also try to speak English to me.

We’ve been blessed in the past by the hospitality of the church, and as a family, this is where we feel called to connect.

We are not the only ones voluntarily relocating to Panama.

At Panama Investor Blog there is a whole article of statistics on people emigrating out of the US to live overseas. Its an interesting read. It doesn’t really address the motiviation of people wanting to live outside of the US, but rather points at current trends of emigration.

Now that we’ve been in our building (the yellowish one on the left) for a few days, its time to find the new rhythm of life.