You will always have the poor with you.....

Jesus said that we would always have poor people with us. Through Cuirim Outreach, we are feeding and clothing people in one of the poorest places I have ever seen in person. Here in Nogales, Sonora (a state in Mexico), there is a neighborhood called The Colosio. In this neighborhood, there are mainly houses made from wooden pallets and scraps of tin roofing. There is no running water, no sewer and no paved roads. Here, families are assailed by poverty in the forms of lack of food and a lack of warm clothing. Right now, we are experiencing a "cold snap". Last night, the temperatures hovered in the lower 40s and it rained. Imagine sleeping in a home with huge gaps in the walls and holes in the roof. Imagine it being blustery as it was yesterday in Nogales and not having enough blankets. On top of this, you didn't have anything for dinner because there was no food in the house. I think you get the idea.

"Cuirim" is a Celtic word meaning "incarnation". It references the incarnation of God in human form: Jesus. The Cuirim House is modeled after a Celtic monastery. Today when we think of a monastery, we think of monks who cloister themselves away from the world. However, Celtic monastaries were the exact opposite. A Celtic monastery would be set up in a village or hamlet and was intended to be a light in the spiritual darkness. They engaged the people around them, providing hospitality and the love of God. In fact, while most of Europe was plunging into the "Dark Ages" and the institutionalized church was teaching false doctrine, the Celtic church kept the flame of the Gospel burning and send out missionaries all through Europe. For more information on this tradition and how the Celtic Christian church changed Europe, you can check out a book called "The Celtic Way of Evangelism" by George Hunter. Here is a link to another blog which talks about the Celtic tradition:

http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7135

Scroll down to the heading "Changing a Place" for information on the Celtic monastic movement in particular, but the entire article is worth reading.

What in the world are we doing here?

I have been in Mexico since June 2007 on a one year mission to work with the local church, telling people the good news that God's forgiveness, presence and life through Jesus Christ is available right now. But what is faith without action? Jesus said that we will always have the poor with us and therefore we take every opportunity to meet the needs off the poor here in Nogales in the name of Jesus. Put another way, we are being the hands and feet of Jesus in Nogales.

I have been thinking about setting up a blog for a while. Many people tell me that they can find no web presence to learn more about Cuirim Outreach. I hope that this blog will help.

In future posts, I will explain in more detail about the work of Cuirim Outreach and my adventures here as God directs my path to bring me into contact with those who need to hear God's truth. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of some of the kids in the neighborhood helping me shovel sand off of the truck for use in making mortar.