A Trip to the Beach

One would think that if a person lived just a few miles from some of the most beautiful tropical beaches in the world that he would visit often. The truth of the matter is, up to a month and a half ago we had only been to the beach twice even though we have lived here over a year. The first time was a school sponsored trip to introduce us to what was available. Since it was during the first week of school a year ago the whole experience was a blur and I was more worried about how I was going to survive school which was opening in a few days. The second trip was in June when my mother came to visit and we wanted to show her the beaches. I suppose this phenomenon is not new. It is like living next door to Disney World and not taking the time to visit.

Last year I had a very short chain. For most evenings and weekends I couldn’t leave my make-shift office at home because I had to prepare lessons for six different preparations to teach … three of which I had never taught before. This year I not only have the lesson plans from last year but I have only one subject I have never taught. I am in educational heaven! So when a teaching colleague and his wife asked us to go to the beach with them I felt that it would be a good thing to do. However, I must admit that at first if felt sort of funny planning to have fun on a weekend.

Our daughter had other plans so we decided to go to the beach with our friends by ourselves. None of us are fluent in Spanish but we decided to go anyway. One has to realize that although we live a mere 60 miles from the beach it takes over two hours to negotiate the best road there on a public bus. Getting there and back is three fourths of the experience. I suppose it is similar to what I remember of our days of family camping.

The problems of four foreigners getting to a “nearby” beach are far more complex that a simple bus ride. For example, since none of us are fluent in Spanish it took almost a half hour to get the taxi to pick us both up and deliver us to the Metro bus station. Then, for reasons we still don’t understand, their posted departure time of 9:15 was not honored and the next bus was not leaving until noon. So we quickly walked down the block to the rival bus company Caribe Tours where we found that all the tickets were sold out. Many people were crowded into the small terminal demanding a ticket, so the proprietors were trying to arrange for an extra bus to come.

We waited for a good hour talking with our friends in the small crowded air conditioned terminal while the overhead TV was showing a special documentary about the Air Force Thunderbirds. Because of the surrounding noise level I was leaning toward my friend so I could hear him. We were sitting in a row with our two wives between us. This meant that I was sitting on only half of my seat. Soon I was aware that another man had sat down next to me on the other half of the seat. I’m not sure that would have happened in the US.

The bus eventually came. As we took a seat, a young man who looked as foreign as we did sat next to me across the aisle on the bus as we traveled to the beach. He was quite vocal and eager to speak to us in English, so we learned quite a bit about him before the trip was finished. I had noticed him earlier at the bus terminal. He was with a dignified Caucasian woman who spoke Spanish as well as English. She had helped me understand what was happening when I tried to get my tickets. He was wearing shorts and had a T-shirt with a large picture of a mug of beer with the caption “Better than Mistletoe”, so I had quickly sized him up as one of those single Americans who come here for a few weeks of drinking and immorality. As we got to know Scott I was reminded again of how we can’t judge a book by its cover.

In reality this young man was from England (complete with the most exquisite English accent) and he was a missionary with an organization called YWAM (Youth with a Mission). This organization has charismatic leanings so he had his share of curious beliefs and doctrines. However, he appeared to have a genuine love for our Lord having been saved out of a world of selling drugs.

At Puerto Plata the bus stopped for a little more than a half hour while we waited for another connection to finish the trip to Sosua. My colleague friend wanted to confront Scott about how his testimony didn’t seem to match his T-shirt, but Scott disappeared after he got off the bus. We, on the other hand, waited in the crowded outdoor bus terminal while beggars took their turns giving an appeal. One skinny man who spoke and acted like a woman lifted his dirty T-shirt to the crowd to reveal some kind of device sticking out of his abdomen. After a short presentation he wandered through the crowd to collect money.

A toothless wrinkled women wearing a baggy dress that had not been washed in weeks had a different approach. She singled out a person and simply stood in front of them and wiggled her fingers near her mouth in an unmistakable message, “Give me some food.”

The bus finally arrived and we were dropped off on the side of the road in Sosua. Fortunately our friends had been here before so they knew how to get to the beach on foot. It took the next hour to find the beach, locate a changing room, decide where to park our bodies for the afternoon, and rent some beach loungers from a man named Lucio.

For the next two hours we lounged in the shade, went swimming in the crystalline turquoise waters, and --- warded off the beach hawkers. Every ten minutes our American bubble of “space” was invaded by sellers of homemade candy, fruit which they cut up with a large knife right in front of you, hair braiders, and jewelry which is always “free to look”. We learned very quickly how to wag our fore finger back and forth in a cultural symbol of “No, we don’t want any!” One group of men wanted to sing for us. My friend hired them to sing a love song for his wife’s birthday which happened to be on that very day. With eyes closed and mouths wide in musical passion it was obvious that they were missing more teeth than they were talent. They were actually quite good and it was a memorable experience.

During the entire afternoon two or three men shared the beach right next to us. They were brawny with tattoos all over their body like sailors on leave. The women with them were undisputedly women of the street whom they had hired for temporary companionship. The men spoke in English quite loudly all day using the “F” word profusely as if trying to out-do each other. The public displays of affection with the harlots were embarrassing to look at. One of the men was from Michigan and wore a prominent tattoo of the Christian fish symbol on his upper right arm.

When it was time to leave I went to the local pay-for-use bathroom to shower and change. My Christian friend approached the man from Michigan to ask him if he knew what the symbol meant that he displayed on his arm. Without a blink of an eye he replied, “Yeah, Jesus Christ God’s Son Savior”. My friend then told him that his behavior indicated that he didn’t really know who Jesus was. The man glared at him and said, “Take the log out of your own eye, buddy.”

This is an amazing story for two reasons. One, that my friend didn’t get his clock cleaned by this guy whose biceps were bigger than my thigh. And two, that a man from America who had obviously had some kind of Christian background could consider himself a Christian and yet engage in worldly behavior condemned by the Scriptures. To me this is an example of the kind of thinking occurring in many churches today justified under the label “freedom in Christ.”

When I came out of the bathroom I gave the woman who was sitting there a ten-peso coin for a “propina” (a tip). She sits there all day collecting money for the use of the bathroom and selling toilet paper. With my gesture of kindness I said, “En el nombre de Jesucristo”. I wasn’t brave enough to take on a brawny tattooed professing Christian but I wanted to identify with Christ in a small way.

Just before it was time to leave I watched three young bucks strut up the beach with an obvious attempt to show off for the girls. They looked to be late high school, muscular, cocky. Suddenly without warning, one of the Dominican young men, the one with his hair dyed blonde, took three fast steps forward, jumped into the air turning a complete 360 degrees, and landed on his feet in a perfect gymnastic move worthy of the Olympics. Unfortunately my wife and the others weren’t there to see it.

We walked to the Metro bus in time to buy our tickets and have an ice cream cone before its departure at 5:50. Before boarding the bus I asked the terminal attendant for the bathroom. I was directed to a urinal in the side of a building located in a shallow cement stall … no door … simply a urinal that looked like a low water fountain. Although I had to use it, the situation was a bit too public for me to be comfortable … although the people passing by didn’t seem to notice or care.

The sun retires every night between 6:30 and 7:30 all year long, so it was dark by the time we reached our home town of Santiago around 8:00 and took a taxi home. The trip to the beach was over. Out of the eleven hours we were gone, eight was spent getting there and back and only three hours were spent on the beach itself … just another trip to a Dominican beach.

Pagan Christianity

In my various trips through the Old Testament prophets in the last few years, I’ve discovered something which I call “Pagan Christianity”. The heart of this phenomenon is succinctly summarized in this phrase from Jeremiah 32:33.

And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face.

This gives an interesting mental picture of how the nation of Israel was approaching God, and the reason God was bringing judgment upon them.

For a long time I used to think that Israel simply turned their back on God. In my mind I saw Israel one day saying, “I’m tired of serving God. I’m going to try the religion of my pagan neighbor for a change.” So presumably they left the temple and built a new idol somewhere else.

Now, I’m not sure that this is an accurate picture of what actually happened. The next verse adds more information.

But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by
my name, to defile it. Jer 32:34

In other words, instead of throwing out what they had, they simply added to it little by little … changing it just enough to suit their purpose … and still be able to call it godly and righteous. They turned their backs on God, but not their face. This makes more sense when I compare it to my own fleshly tendencies.

In my youth, along with Peter of old, I frequently said to myself, “If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise.” Knowing what Christ had done for me and the fervor I felt in those early years, I could not picture myself ever turning away from God.

As I’ve grown older I’ve learned more about myself and the weakness of my flesh. Evil presents itself to me more commonly as “the little foxes that spoil the vines” (Song of Solomon 2”15) rather than “a lion in the streets” (Prov 26:13). The path of apostasy is strewn with small compromises carefully justified by a deceived heart.

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death. Prov 16:25

Therefore the nation of Israel had come to a place where they were worshipping idols (have turned unto me the back) but were saying, and probably even believing, that they were worshipping God (but still thinking they were facing him.) Jeremiah explains the mechanism of this sad process of pagan Christianity a few chapters earlier.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked
who can know it? Jer 17:9

Jeremiah confirmed this when he admitted:

O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not
in man that walketh to direct his steps. Jer 10:23

Now this is a terrifying concept if you stop to think about it. In Jeremiah we are told that prophets were prophesying lies and false visions and divination (14:4), they were near with their mouths but far away in their reins (affections, emotions, feelings,) (12:2), and they thought they were worshipping God when in fact they were walking in the imagination of their evil hearts (11:8-10). How did they get to that point? And, more pertinently, how do I know that I am truly seeking God, or if I’m merely following fleshly desires cloaked under a mantle of righteous sounding reasons?


The danger is real … I know. In my own experience I’ve been caught red-handed in this trap of hypocrisy many times … especially in my marriage. I will say that I am serving my wife, but when certain layers are stripped away I realize I am actually serving myself. Maybe some can identify with this. So how do I know if my heart is deceived?

It is interesting to note the verses that follow this mechanism that Jeremiah laid out. After he mentioned that the heart was so deceitful that no one could know it, he says:

I, the LORD, search the heart, I try the reins. Jer 17:10

And after Jeremiah reminds himself that the way of man is not in himself, that he doesn’t even know how to make the right decisions, he states:

O LORD, correct me … Jer 10:24

The answer to my fear of hypocrisy, and the antidote to apostasy, is … the Word of God! The answer is not subjectively analyzed. The Lord reveals it objectively in His word.

The attitude of Israel toward God’s word is traced through Jeremiah:

They have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but
rejected it. Jer 6:19

The word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no
delight in it. Jer 6:10

Finally a day came when they were confronted with God’s words through Jeremiah, and their scoffing remark was “Where is the word of the LORD?” (Jer 17:15) Without knowing it a person can be practicing pagan Christianity if he does not delight himself in the Word of the Lord.

My school teaching job is starting next week, and in my typical pattern I am having nightmares of unruly classes. I’m also thinking through daily schedules and life priorities. This type of introspection seems to accompany the beginning of every school year for me.




I suppose this is why the book of Jeremiah hit me so hard this year. It made me ask the big questions. What am I doing in the DR? Am I really serving the Lord, or have I made it sound like I am, both to myself and to others? Am I deceived or am I living a life of faith? Am I a pagan Christian or a growing Christian?

To be honest, I’m not sure I can answer those questions. And when I try, my thinking gets all gummed up inside, if you know what I mean. But if there’s nothing else I’ve learned in Jeremiah, it’s this …. if I honestly delight in the written Scriptures, God is faithful to convict me of sin and reveal the truth. He will search my heart, and try me, and correct me… if I am in the Word.

So, rather than second guess my motives, I’ve decided to approach this year in the same way that Jeremiah approached his “job” expressed within the pages of his book.

1. Decide to trust and hope in the Lord with everything I do instead of
in the flesh.

Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm,
and whose heart departeth from the LORD. Jer 17:5

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the
LORD is. Jer 17:7

2. Understand that I cannot trust my own heart since it is deceitful, so
look to God to direct my steps and correct me.

O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest
thou bring me to nothing. Jer 10:24

3. Daily set aside time that allows me to be in the Word on a consistent
and personal basis.

Thy words were found and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me
the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name,
O LORD God of hosts. Jer 15:16

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul warns that as we move closer to the end times the church will not endure sound doctrine and will eventually have a form of godliness but deny its power. I honestly believe that we are seeing today what Jeremiah was addressing in his day … apostasy in the church and in the lives of individual professing Christians as they refuse to separate from the world and tremble at the word of God.

For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived
and heard his word? Who hath marked his word, and heard it? Jer 23:18



I Am Resolved

I am resolved no longer to linger, Charmed by the world’s delight;
Things that are higher, things that are nobler … These have allured my sight.
I am resolved to go to the Savior, Leaving my sin and strife;
He is the true one, he is the just one … He hath the words of life.
I am resolved to follow the Savior, Faithful and true each day;
Heed what He sayeth, do what He willeth … He is the living way.
I am resolved to enter the kingdom, Leaving the paths of sin;
Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me, Still will I enter in.
I am resolved, and who will go with me? Come, friends, without delay;
Taught by the Bible, led by the Spirit, We’ll walk the heav’nly way.
I will hasten to Him, Hasten so glad and free;
Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.

by Palmer Hartsough

In The Place Which He Should Choose

An interesting phrase punctuates the end of chapter 9 in the book of Joshua in the Bible … “in the place which He (God) should choose.” Before this phrase was penned, Joshua had led the people across the Jordan on dry ground. In this miraculous event God demonstrated that His spirit was upon this new leader as He had been with Moses. Then, in the first battle in the Promised Land, Jericho falls with a blast from the trumpets and a shout from the people. A few days later, after a reminder of total obedience to the God of Israel, the neighboring city of Ai is destroyed in a mighty victory.

Then Joshua builds an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. He made the altar according to the exact specifications spelled out in the written law of God. Then he wrote a copy of the law of Moses on the altar and afterward assembled all Israel together to read every single word of the law to everyone ... including the women and children and strangers that were among them. (Josh 8:30-35)

Then we come to the chapter where we find this mysterious phrase ... "In the place which He should choose". (Josh 9:27) The inhabitants of the land hear of what is happening and begin to create military alliances to fight against Israel. At least five kings mobilize forces to march against Israel. In the meantime however, one of the cities hatch a different plan.

Gibeon was a prominent city, as powerful as one of the country’s royal cities, and "all the men thereof were mighty." (Josh 10:2) They had a better chance of resisting Israel than Ai did. But they had heard about God’s command to Moses to destroy all the inhabitants of the land and they believed that the Lord God was powerful enough to do it. So they proposed a plan of deception.

Pretending to come from a far distance to seek and worship the God of Israel they asked for asylum and to be admitted as fellow worshippers. Evidently this concept was not new to the leaders of Israel because there was already a contingency of “strangers” who traveled with Israel and worshipped with them. So Joshua and the princes of Israel made a league of peace and protection with them. Then the Scriptures succinctly state: “and the men … asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.” (Josh 9:14)

Realizing their mistake three days later, Joshua and the leaders of Israel were properly embarrassed before the congregation. To avoid the wrath of God for breaking a treaty, they allowed the Gibeonites to live, but they relegated all of them to the position of forced labor. From that day onward, the Gibeonites cut wood and drew water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord … "in the place which He should choose."

A careful reader of Scripture has to pause for a minute to ask why this little phrase was added to this sad story. The phrase, of course, was not new to the writer of this book (probably Joshua) or to the people of Israel. When Moses repeated the law to these people in the book of Deuteronomy just a few months before, he used this phrase six times in chapter 16 alone! It is as if Joshua finally understood what Moses had been trying to say... "Remember, Joshua, it is not about what seems right and logical to you at the time. Life is always about seeking God's counsel in the Word and finding what He should choose."

One morning during my Bible reading I read this verse:

“Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name:
the righteous shall compass me about;
for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.” Psalm 142:7

In the margin I had scrawled in pencil “A verse for my daughter 4-28-08”.

And in the next chapter this verse was underlined:

“Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust:
Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.” Psalm 143:8

In the margin I had penciled these words: “Santiago Target decisions 5-3-08”.

I was reading Scripture that God used in my life a year ago to wrestle through some big decisions and to comfort me in some heavy concerns that I had at the time. It felt like a grandmother must feel as she runs her fingers over an old photo.

A year has passed and God has been faithful. A year of teaching in a Christian school hasn’t killed me. Our apartment is set up and livable. Our daughter is out of prison and has been living with us for almost a month now. The righteous have compassed us about with many emails of joy and encouragement. If I may, we have crossed the Jordan and we are now ready to dwell in the Promised Land.

Based on this story of Joshua I can assume that once God begins putting the pieces of a puzzle together that we have been working on for a long time, it is easy to make decisions without taking the time to consult God. I need to remember that our lives ahead here in the Dominican Republic should still be lived “in the place which He should choose.”

I don’t know why Joshua forgot that lesson, but I figure he was maybe under a little pressure knowing that five kings were marching against him very soon. In my case I know that when the school year will start in the middle of August (kind of similar to five kings marching toward me in battle), I will have the tendency to make decisions without taking the time to seek God’s face. My sincere desire for our little temporary family is that, for as long as the Lord has us together, we will dwell in our Canaan “in the place which He should choose.”

The Condo on the Beach

A generous friend of ours knew that he was giving up his lease on a condo at the beach at the end of June and wasn’t going to be around to use it. So he offered its use to some of his friends. So thanks to his kindness and the grace of God my wife and I had the privilege of spending a few days at a condo at the beach with my mother and our daughter. This was looked forward to with great eagerness since we had not been to the beach since last August.



There are two major bus lines here in this country. The more modern, sleek, expensive line is the Metro which we have always used for our jaunts to Santo Domingo when we visited our daughter. The Caribe bus line is a bit shabbier and less expensive. So we have affectionately dubbed it the poor man’s bus. This is the bus we chose to ride for our two hour trip to the beach since the terminal was closest to our destination.

The green and yellow Greyhound-style bus stopped when we reached Sosua, a popular North Shore tourist town, and we were informed that this was the place to get off. As the bus sped off leaving us in a cloud of blue smoke we realized that we were nowhere … no terminal, no stores, just somewhere in a little town on the side of a road with two large suitcases and one Grandma who was going to be overcome with heat exhaustion any moment.



Cherish grabbed the first taxi she saw in order to get us off the road … an old car with seats that looked like they came from a hillbilly’s shack. Carol was a bit concerned because the trunk wouldn’t close and figured that the luggage would bounce out on the pot-holed roads. But we made it safely a few blocks to a local air conditioned grocery store. While the women did some shopping so we would have food at the condo for the next few days, I stayed out in the small oven that had a sign on it that said “taxi” in order to protect the luggage. The taxi cab driver kept wiping the back of his neck with a dirty white towel while trying to make conversation with phrases such as “sol caliente” or “mucho calor”.

Although the car looked like the winner of a demolition derby, the driver was a nice man and agreed to take us to the condo, which was probably three miles outside of town, for 300 pesos (about $9.00). Beggars aren’t choosers so we took him up on it. The next time we needed a taxi we found a large SUV with air conditioning for the same amount of money which we used for the rest of the time.

The view from the condo balcony was like something from a picture postcard. However, two details were left out in the condo description which made a huge difference to us. One was that it was on the third floor in a building with no elevator. The second was that only one of the three ceiling fans worked, and that fan only on low. None of the two air conditioners were functional. But some of the times a breeze would come off the ocean which made it tolerable.

We couldn’t get enough of the view. I noticed that about 90% of our time was spent on the balcony just sitting in the chairs and watching the scenery. The beach was basically a private beach

but it had its traffic … local condo dwellers taking a stroll, a woman and her son looking for shells, a horse and a rider from the nearby Sea Horse Ranch, a miniature Chihuahua barking at a sand crab, and, of course, the endless rhythm and sound of the waves. The whole experience was quite mesmerizing.



The condo is roughly half way between two popular beach resort towns … Sosua and Cabarete. In my mind I loosely compare them to Cannon Beach and Sea Side, Oregon which we used to visit regularly when the kids were smaller. Sosua, like Cannon Beach, is smaller with snorkeling and a museum of Jewish history. Cabarete is like Sea Side … lots of go-carts, night life, windsurfing, and activity. As a result Cabarete was our choice to visit the next day when we decided to do our souvenir shopping for Grandma.

We hit the streets around 10:00 that morning and were done in an hour. To be honest, I think Grandma would have bought anything just to say that she was done so that she could get out of the heat and humidity. I asked the lady of a small souvenir shop if Grandma could sit in her plastic chair under an overhead fan while Carol and Cherish were finishing shopping. She agreed. The back of the seat was cracked and it was wired together with baling wire but it was sturdy enough to give Grandma some temporary respite. When They came later to show the floppy beach hat they bought me so I wouldn’t look like a tourist, they looked around at the jewelry and bought some bobbles. So this lady’s generosity paid off a little bit.



When the shopping was over we made a beeline to the beach which is only a block or two from the main street no matter where you are. The little alley we chose as a path to the beach dropped us into a little place called Guinness Irish Pub, so we found a table and ordered something to drink. We sat under a large fan around a heavy wooden table for the next hour sipping on some very fancy tropical drinks with umbrellas stuck in them.



Eventually we moved just outside the pub onto some beach recliners under the palm trees to set up sort of a base camp. If at least one person stayed with our paraphernalia, the rest could walk, look for sea shells, and wade in the ocean … whatever.



When I noticed that Grandma had been gone a while I decided to find her. Five minutes later I saw her in the distance stooping over to pick up another small shell. I should mention here that after two days of combing two beaches, there seems to be no sizable sea shells deposited on these beaches here on the north end of the island. There’s probably a scientific reason, but all a person can find are small shells … which Grandma found plenty of.



When I caught up with her I noticed she had her hometown newspaper with her. The local newspaper in Caldwell will put your picture in the paper if you take a picture of yourself holding the paper in another country. She did this the last time she visited us in Venezuela and she wanted to do it again. So I suggested that this beach would be a great location for her picture since it is world famous for windsurfing and kitesurfing.

Just as she posed with the newspaper and I was ready to snap the picture with the curve of the tropical beach behind her, two topless female sunbathers walked slowly into view on their way to the water. Resisting the urge to snap the picture as joke, I lowered my camera and said, “You’ll have to wait a minute … look.” When she turned to see what was happening she was properly embarrassed. We Idahoans are just not adjusted to the European influence that we see pop up occasionally on the beaches here.



For the couple of hours that we hung out on the beach we had to constantly contend with the private vendors wanting to sell us their wares … homemade sweets, picture albums, sun glasses, jewelry. There was one woman that passed us maybe four or five times with a basket of fruit on her head with a large knife standing on end. She was a large black woman and she must have walked five miles in the sand just in those few hours we were there.

The way these vendors caught your attention was varied. My favorite was a round faced younger woman selling some kind of a picture album. She came directly to Carol saying, “oh, my, you are such a beautiful woman.” Then pointing to her wares she added, “To look is free!”

Locating a restaurant on the beach we decided to have a late afternoon lunch so we wouldn’t have to cook when we came back to the condo. It took a long time for them to take and make our order of chicken nuggets and a DR special, but this is typical in this country. We used our time to talk and watch the beach sights. Grandma's favorite sight was the native boy hired to rake the sand in front of our table and then wet it down with a garden hose. With the little bit of ocean breeze blowing on that garden hose mist, it made her feel cool. All enjoyable experiences associated with this visit had to have the descriptor “cool” attached to it.

Carol ordered an interesting shrimp dish where each shrimp looked like it had just been taken out of the ocean. In fact, it was just like the crayfish we dissected in biology class this year. I could identify the antennae, the eyes, the thorax, and the swimmerets. As it turned out, my scientific observations were not very appetizing. We finally had to ask the waitress how to eat something that looked like a miniature lobster. She didn’t know! So we just cracked it open with our fingers and peeled it like a very tough egg. Sometimes we feel like the country hicks we are.



The man with the air conditioned SUV taxi picked us up at Cabarete and dropped us off at the condo to relax for the rest of the evening after a full day. We played a crazy card game that Grandma taught us called Hand-and-Foot and took a dip in the pool before bed time. About that time I began to wonder what the common people were doing.



Designating our last day at the condo as a “do nothing” day we simply enjoyed the last few hours of this trip to paradise by relaxing. That evening I heard many excited screams coming from the beach. It was nearing evening and the waves were the largest we had seen since being here … presumable from the storm that had passed through the day before and treated us to the most fantastic thunder and lightning show we can remember seeing over an ocean.

The amusement park sounds intrigued me so I went down to the beach to find a group of about six people trying to ride the crashing waves. So I joined them. I discovered that if I swam past a certain point where the waves were breaking that a person could bob up and down on the crest of each big wave giving a sort of roller coaster thrill. It was so much fun that I forgot that I was out of shape. I paid for my hour of water aerobics for the next two days of sore muscles.

When Grandma came to investigate some time later I knew it would be too turbulent for her to come into the water, but I wanted to talk to her, so I began to swim to the shore. I rode a wave in and was deposited about 20 feet in front of my mother. However, I lost my footing and fell down.



She was talking to a couple of the girls who had been there originally. When I made it to my feet I looked up at them to say something clever to regain my dignity. Suddenly the eyes of all three of them became very round with panic as they looked at me. Just as I lifted my hands to shrug with a gesture of “What?” a huge wave hit me broad side on my back. The wave was taller than I was and I had no idea it was coming.

The wave crashed me forward in a tumbling ball of legs and arms, and then when I thought I could take a breath it dragged me back into the ocean across the sand filling my swim suit with handfuls of sand and feeling like sand paper on my skin. I knew consciously what was happening but I couldn’t control it.

Both women with Grandma were young and asked Mom, “Should we jump in to rescue him?” Oh, that would have been one for the Moscow newspaper … “RETIRED MOSCOW SCHOOL TEACHER PULLED FROM OCEAN BY 25 YEAR OLD GIRL.” Fortunately Grandma thought I could take care of myself and gave me a second to regain my composure. Eventually I found my feet and made it to shore a bit more humbled.

For a date Carol and I walked up the beach one evening to find a small restaurant that someone told us about. The name of the place was Natura Cabana and was absolutely idyllic. Located under a large conical thatched roof, the tables were elaborately set but no one was there. It was 5:30 when we arrived and a friendly waiter asked if he could seat us. We looked at the menu and placed our order. After opening the bottles of water and pouring it over the ice in our cups in a way that reminded me of pouring champagne he casually mentioned in an accent, “Do you know restaurant not open til 7:00?” (Another situation where we are supposed to know the rules but nothing is posted.)



After a bit of awkwardness he disappeared. Just as we were getting our things together with plans to return in an hour and a half, he came back and said, “I talk with chef and he say he start early for you.” With our gratitude expressed we asked if we could walk around to enjoy the grounds. What we found amazed us!



Unbeknownst to us, we had stumbled into a nest of New Agers. This place is some kind of a spiritual retreat center to help people “maximize your mental momentum and reconnect with your inner self.” Each of the ten cabanas (or bungalows) had a distinctive personality with unique architecture using local materials like cacoba, bamboo, coral, and artistic stonework … all illuminated seductively under the concepts of Feng Shui (whoever that is).

For “greater disconnection and spiritual growth” they even have a Yoga temple … the perfect place for uplifting the spirit (of darkness), practicing yoga, and meditation. I found it interesting to note that it was advertised first as a place to reconnect with your inner self, and then as a place to disconnect. Does anyone understand this stuff?



I think my personal favorite was the Attabeyra SPA (the goddess of waters in Taino culture). This SPA is the center of “spiritual” leisure offering all types of treatments such as massages, facial, mud or chocolate wraps (?), reflexology, and steam baths in their mystic “Mushroom”. The Taino Indians, by the way, was a sub-group of American Indians that lived in the Dominican Republic when Columbus landed here. They had many gods who were always angry and had to be pacified by elaborate and numerous sacrifices. Similar to our own North American Indians, they were an idolatrous culture … certainly nothing to be resurrected and emulated. But then again, that is exactly what the New Age religion is doing … bringing back idol worship and darkness … the doctrines of demons. Even though it seemed so ridiculous at first that it appeared humorous to me, after a few minutes humor was replaced with a deep sense of sorrow.

A comment by Walter Chantery seems appropriate here:
“No one who has God’s spirit can walk through our world without deep groaning of sorrow and distress when the stench of immorality fills his nostrils.’”

It seemed that I felt some of what he was talking about as I walked through those grounds. Coincidently two celebrities had died on this same day … Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett . Both were very talented and by outward appearances had seemingly gained the world but lost their souls. It was a somber note to reflect on.

At the restaurant, a pretty woman, who appeared to be on the back side of 30 introduced herself as the owner, expressed her desire that we enjoy ourselves. I could only imagine the unrest she had underneath that pleasant façade. And just think! All this spiritual refreshment and idol worship is yours for the modest price of 130 US dollars per night per person. Of course, this does not include SPA treatments, food, or a 16% sales tax.

On the way home at dusk as we hiked through the sand back to the condo, the sky was ablaze with the pinks and oranges of a tropical sunset over the ocean.



My heart and my mind later went back to the words of a Psalm that I read a few days before:

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy,
and for thy truth’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God?
But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

Their idols are silver and god, the work of men’s hands. They have mouth but they speak not. Eyes have they but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not:
noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not:
feet have they but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

They that make them are like unto them; so is everyone that trusteth in them.
O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. Psa 115:1-8

Out of Darkness

“Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his
wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the
longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Such as
sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction
and iron; Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned
the counsel of the most High: Therefore he brought down their heart with
labor; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto
the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness, and the shadow of death, and brake their
bands in sunder.” Psa 107:8-14

When I read these verses exactly one year ago before I came to the Dominican Republic I saw my daughter’s face on every verse, and with a father’s heart I prayed that God in His goodness would “satisfy the longing soul” and bring her “out of darkness.” Specifically my three biggest requests were that He would meet her spiritual needs, protect her physically, and release her from prison.

One year later (June 15th) I was reading the same passage and I still had the same concerns, so I laid those same three requests before the feet of Jesus.



Two hours later the phone rang. A friend told my wife that they had picked up the judges’ decision for her recent appeal and Cherish was to be legally released on parole! In fact, he was on his way to deliver the decision to the prison and to get Cherish.

At 1:00 that afternoon Cherish called on a cell phone as she was in the car pulling away from the prison. She was absolutely giddy! She knew that morning when she got up that it was the day to receive the decision of her court appeal, but during her devotions told the Lord that as much as she wanted out, she truly wanted His best for her life. It had not escaped her notice that when she rebelled against the words of God, He brought down her heart with labor. It was in prison when she cried unto the Lord in her trouble. He sent His word and healed her … in prison. So she knew that it could still be God’s will for her to remain in prison.

So she got up that morning and continued her normal routine of prison life not wanting to take anything for granted. I believe that once she has started this parole request five months ago with the resulting roller coaster ride of hope and disappointment, she has been humbled under the sovereignty of God, and like Nebuchadnezzar has learned that the Most High ruleth over all the earth. At least she expressed sentiments similar to this to me.

Somehow the inmates learned the news of her release before she did. While she was busy with her routine prison chores she looked up to see a group of screaming, excited girls running toward her. Some were in tears of joy … some in tears of sorrow knowing she would be leaving. I can hardly imagine the bond that these girls must feel after being together for four years in a hard situation like this.

While she was on the phone with us for the first time as a free woman I asked what she was going to do. With a slight hesitation she said, “I haven’t thought about it … and I don’t think it matters right now.” She couldn’t get over the feeling of being able to look around without seeing an “agent” (prison security guard), or to lift her arms without having handcuffs on. Oh, she did mention to Carol that she was thinking about robbing a bank. I’m pretty sure she was joking … right?

Our daughter spent the night in the capitol Santo Domingo so she could visit a few of the Christian friends who had been such a support and fellowship in the last few years. It reminded me of Peter in the book of Acts when he was miraculously released from prison. He immediately went to share the news to his Christian brothers and sisters who were praying for him.

While our daughter was in prison, the computer game Wii was invented, we can see our granddaughters while talking with our son in Japan on something called “Skype”, and Cherish lost both of her grandfathers. She is catching up on the technology, but nothing can replace the loss of family or the memories of being able to say a proper goodbye. One of her main prayer requests was to be able to see her only surviving grandmother …. my mother. God answered that prayer in a wonderful way.







On the same day that her grandmother boarded a plane to fly to the DR to visit us, our daughter walked out of prison as a “semi-free” woman. And, on the same day that Grandma landed in Santiago, Cherish came up to welcome her at the airport. On that day (June 16) we saw our daughter for the first time since she was on parole and saw my mother for the first time in a year.




For the next two weeks we witnessed an answer to prayer as our daughter and her grandmother spent time together. Grandma taught her how to line dance. They swapped stories, walked on the beach, shopped at malls, and went to church together. Just as my wife’s grandmother Sasser has been a strong, godly example in her memory through the years, I believe Grandma Dale will be the same for our daughter who sincerely wants to please God.














Grandma has gone back to Idaho now and we are beginning a new life together with our daughter. I praise God that He brought her out of darkness, and the shadow of death, and brake her bands in sunder.

In Quietness and in Confidence

My wife and I received news a few months back that our pastor in Idaho is struggling with several medical conditions that they are trying to sort out, and it is taking a long time. An otherwise robust man who finds joy and confidence in being independently active and serving others is suddenly unable to do much … except wait.

Even though my wife and I are removed from the situation since I am teaching school in the Dominican Republic, we have been praying for him and his wife. Recently the Lord laid them on our hearts so we sent an e-card to express a word of encouragement.
The message I wanted to convey was inside of me but clarity and succinctness seemed to be out of my grasp. Even after I sent the card I felt like I didn’t say what I wanted to say … but I didn’t know what to say differently. So I continued to mull it over in my mind.

It seems that this situation with my pastor is not unique. Even from personal experience I know that the Lord allows circumstances into a believer’s life over which he has no control … something so big that it defies “fixing” by human effort no matter how hard one tries. During those times we are faced with a decision. Do we become bitter, impatient, or so desperate for help that we compromise our faith to get out of it? Or do we wait on the Lord? It seems to me that it becomes a tool that God uses to force us into the crossroad of sanctification … the crossroad of whining or waiting. So I guess the question I was actually wrestling with is how one should respond during these times we can’t do anything but wait.

Our experience here in the DR was precipitated by our concern to help our daughter who was sentenced to seven years in a foreign prison. Our plan was to find a job here, set up a household, and petition the judges to allow her to be released on parole for the remainder of her sentence. Although it is not as common for foreign prisoners, we knew that it was a reasonable request that was possible to be granted, so we put our plan into action.

She petitioned for her release in January and, without going into detail, suffice it to say that it is now June and we are still waiting. How does a person who desires to walk with God respond during these times when all he can do is wait? I feel in a small way, in principle, if not in circumstance, that I share a similar battle of faith that my pastor must be facing … and I didn’t know how to put it into words.

The very next morning after I sent the e-card I was reading in Isaiah. Some verses stood out to me which I believe gave some insight into answering my question.

“For thus saith the LORD GOD, the Holy One of Israel;
In returning and rest shall ye be saved;
in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength:
and ye would not.” Isaiah 30:15

In context this verse is part of a prophecy of God’s intended judgment upon Jerusalem:

“… this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their
lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me,
and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work
among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder, for
the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding
of their prudent men shall be hid.” Isaiah 29:13,14

These people professed to believe in the Lord and were going through the motions of their “religion” but it did not please God. It was the frantic motion and activity of the flesh “taught by the precept of men.”

To correct this natural tendency of the flesh, God placed in front of them a judgment. He tried speaking to them simply as one who corrects a child, but they would not listen:

“Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to
understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk,
and drawn from the breast. For precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a
little, and there a little. For with stammering lips and
another tongue will he speak to this people.” Isaiah 28:9-11

Since they would not listen to simple teaching in their own language, he would teach them by using another nation with a foreign tongue to judge them … something beyond their control, to say the least.

When God brings “judgments” into our lives the reason is predictable because of His character… he cares about us and what we believe … and it is the same reason that He brought it upon Jerusalem:

“Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham,
concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be
ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. But when
he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the
midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify
the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding,
and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.“ Isaiah 29:22-24

And it is just as predictable that our response will usually be the same as the people in Jerusalem:

“Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take
counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering but
not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: that walk
to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to
strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to
trust in the shadow of Egypt.” Isaiah 30:2

When we first heard that our daughter was in prison, our reaction (after the “shock-and-denial-and-feeling-guilty” stage) was to turn to Egypt. We wrote senators and harassed the Embassy looking for any way possible to get her out of prison … all to no avail. Nothing we have tried over the last four years has worked … and we have been forced by circumstances to wait.

As believers we all live in a body of flesh that wars against the things of God. God has called us to “walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) So God allows these circumstances of “judgment” into my life on a regular basis for this very reason … my sanctification. He is sovereign and knows what we need and at what time, and it is a source of joy to know that it is for a “perfect work.” (James 1:4)

The good news is that as true believers we have the strength to endure and emerge victorious:

“We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that
is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth
him not.” I John 5:18

Another dimension that I missed in this whole concept is seeing it from God’s point of view. Wrapped up in my own world I didn’t see the patience of God. He is also waiting … for me to grow up.

“And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto
you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy
upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all
they that wait for him.” Isaiah 30:18

By faith I truly want to embrace these times of rest and quietness. I want to pray instead of worry, learn doctrine instead of go to Egypt. My prayer for both my pastor and myself is that, as we face this time of waiting on “God’s judgment”, our strength would be in quietness and in confidence.

“Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness
remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness
shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and
assurance for ever.” Isaiah 32:16,17

Policeman Lying Down

Many motorcycles and cars were ignoring the speed zone in front of our small school where I am a teacher here in the Dominican Republic. In an effort to protect our patrons we constructed two large speed bumps … one on either end of the entrance to our school. Now the speedsters have to slow down or experience dire consequences.



Recently, one of my colleagues who is trying to become more proficient in Spanish asked a Dominican taxi driver how to say “speed bump” in Spanish. The taxi driver replied, “Policia acostado”. Translated this means, “Policeman lying down”. He went on to say that if it is a particularly large speed bump they call it “Captain of the policeman lying down.”

We all need to slow down … and I’m convinced that God places speed bumps in our lives on a regular basis to force us to wait on Him. My wife and I have experienced this several times since we moved to the DR last fall, and more recently … with our daughter.



One of the main reasons for accepting the job offer at Santiago Christian School was to establish a stable home for our daughter to come to when she was released from prison on parole. This was supposed to happen in January, and to condense a long story down to a number of small speed bumps, she didn’t come to court for her parole request until April 3rd at which time we felt pretty confident that she would be released. Then, due to circumstances none of us could have foreseen, she was denied parole and we have had to slow down and wait on the Lord one more time.

For various reasons, our daughter felt it was prudent to appeal her case rather than to wait for three months to re-apply for parole. The law states that when an appeal is made the court system must reply with a new court date within 20 days. So our daughter immediately submitted an appeal and we began our 20-day wait for the reply.
Two weeks later we had still not heard from the court system and I read these words from my Bible one morning before school:

“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and
he shall strengthen thy heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psa 27:13,14

How many times had I read these verses over the last 46 years of my walk with God? But this time I saw the truth in a different light. It revealed to me the reason that God puts speed bumps in our lives. These verses are the testimony of a man who had walked with God from his youth (Psa 71:17) and it comes at the conclusion of the chapter. Looking back, we see that prior to uttering these amazing words David had described his driving motivation of life:

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord
is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Verse 1

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I
may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. Verse 4

When thou saidst, seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, thy face,
Lord, will I seek. Verse 8

Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of
my enemies. Verse 11

David is virtually shouting his desire to know God, to walk in a path that pleases God, to live in God’s strength rather than his own. This desire resonates with my own … and I would also venture to say that it is the desire that the Spirit places within the heart of every person at the new birth.

So how do we get to know God and receive this spiritual strength for godly living? David concludes simply that when we come to those speed bumps that God places in our lives, those circumstances over which we have no control, and we wonder if we will ever see the goodness of the Lord again as long as we are alive, that we should “wait on the Lord … and he shall strengthen thy heart.”

A day after that encouragement from the Word, we received a message from our daughter to let us know that her appeal has been scheduled for May 21st. At that time she will appear before a type of Supreme Court and will have a chance to share her testimony one more time … only this time before five judges. So we are now in the middle of what has been a 33-day wait. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) And who knows what will happen on the 21st?

In the meantime in the land of the living we are seeing the goodness of the Lord. My school’s board of education granted me special permission to go to the court on that day with my wife to be with our daughter even though I have already used all my allotted “personal days” of leave for this year, so they were very gracious.

Just before Christmas a teacher who was moving back to the States sold us her bed so our daughter would have something to sleep on. During Semana Santa (“Holy Week” where schools are released for the week before Easter) I came down with a pretty nasty cold and was sick six of the seven days. (In my eyes this was a “Captain of the policeman lying down” because we had to cancel a trip to the beach!) Because of my irritating cough at night I decided to sleep in the other bedroom on our daughter’s bed to allow my wife to get some sleep. For the first time, I discovered that I wouldn’t let my dog sleep on that bed (if we had one.) So now we are going through the tedious steps of buying another bed … a project in itself guaranteed to increase faith in 12 arduous steps for any couple who has moved to a new country, does not speak the language, and has no personal transportation. This extra time of “waiting” has given us the opportunity and time to hopefully get this done before she comes.

Our daughter continues to call us twice a week with her five-minute reports of her extended time in prison. God is ministering to her heart in a similar fashion and she is sounding more humble in her conversation. In each of our lives both she and we are seeing God’s goodness and learning what it means to live in His strength as we wait on the Lord’s timing.



Isaiah put it this way:

“The Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high … and wisdom and
knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of
salvation; the fear of the Lord is his treasure.” Isaiah 33:5,6

This is something that all believers need to learn and practice, and it is best learned as we wait on the Lord … when God puts in front of us a “policeman lying down”.