Lessons Learned in Ponta Grossa

The reason my uncle invited me to spend the weekend with him was because my cousin is/was in a fair amout of financial trouble and he wanted to see what he could do to help. And really I was astounded at his selflessness to help his daughter and her family. His solution ended up being to sell his car and buy another cheeper one that he´s going to pay off over time. I was also astounded because after the transaction the only thing he could do was thank God for giving him such an amazing new car—he feels like he got and upgrade or something. I feel like the last thing I think of when a friend or family member asks for help finacially is what can I sell or do without that could be worth money. I’m so quick to offer prayer but now willing to offer the tangible gift my friend is asking for.

Because my uncle and I drove out together, I also got a real picture of who he is, why he is the way he is as well as his picture of god, eternity and life. It was interesting to see where our spirituality was completely the same and was drastically different on other levels. But unlike me, he´s thought through every aspect "I´m a questioner" He tells me, so therefore his questions turned into a very long, interesting conversation...

He is a deeply spiritual person, but sadly, he was horribly burned by the church and does’t want to be with hypocrites. That seems fair enough. He says that he goes for direct access to God. He goes swimming and fishing, he meets God all the time by himself and he says that that’s his church. But I think that he is so burned that he has rejected a lot of chrisitanity as well. Kind of like Ghandi when he said that Christianity is the religion with the most truth but he wouldn’t want to be a christian because people who say they are don’t live the life the bible calls them to. This seems like it happens only too often. People get “burned” by the church and reject God altogether. It really convicts me to look at my life and ask myself where am I hypocritical and where am I just a person making mistakes like everyone else.

Although we didn’t talk about this, I’ve also been thinking a lot about how it is a common thought that there is only one God and many interpretations of him, which makes up different religions. I’ve been thinking about this because I’ve been reading the last of the Chronicles of Narnia “The Last Battle” and there is a part in it where some men trying to take over Narnia and they do it by saying that Aslan and Tash (the God of another country) are one. They call him Tashlan, and CS Lewis makes a point to show where it is wrong to combine Gods. God is God. Aslan is Aslan. Tash is Tash. Could you imagine what it would be like as a Christian or Muslim to have a person come into your Church/Mosque saying God and Allah are the same. We will call him Gallah. Yet, in the doctrines of both religions it says “I am God, you will have no others before me”. It seems to me that combining the Gods of two different religions that explicitly state that they are God (no more, no less) directly goes against this.

I’m going to stop my philosophizing here, rather that broadcasting my thoughts along with my uncles on the world-wide web. I would like to say, however, that I feel like I’ve really reached a new level of my speaking portuguese—being able to talk about religion, past experiences, life lessons, all of this—in another language is quite a milestone. Sure, I still hardly speak flawlessly, but I'm catching on and can get my point across 95% of the time. I’m starting to really recognize words in conversations and am even starting to understand the sports newcasters during soccer games, which is something I vividly remember not understanding in the slightest, so I feel like it is coming to me... even if it is devagar.