"Aspire To Be More than a Monkey!"

Me: (to the kids) 

"I need you guys to be on your best behavior. It isn't good enough to just follow me around and not hurt yourselves or each other... even a monkey could do that. 

You should aspire to be more than a monkey."

Needless to say... there was laughing all around as Kellie suggested the family should begin a notebook of Chad Sayings, and Caleb suggested that You Should Aspire to be More than a Monkey might be the title of my first book.

Well... have you seen my family? I just don't know where they get this inappropriate behavior?

Should you ever find yourself the father of a missional family of 3 half-way through your full month study in language school and 3/4 of the way through your full quotient of sanity, I suggest to you that keeping an active sense of humor is vital.

After purchasing two mobile phones from a dealer downtown Guatemala City, our bank accounts were frozen, including every credit card we had... even though we had informed the bank of the purchase. This led to me being unable to pay for a group of 6 at the counter of Taco Bell. 

I had exhausted the currency that I carried on a tank of diesel and unexpected cash purchases related to the new phones. So after my, "lo siento" (sorry) at the counter we walked away from our stack of tacos and made our way to the elevator.

We rode it the wrong way... went back down... realized we were on the wrong floor... walked across the garage... and then could not exit the building because the gate was broken.

All we could do was LAUGH! We were so thankful to have our friend, Eduardo with us.. otherwise, who knows?

At the end of the day... even through the difficulty, we had completed our major goals for the day. We had procured phones and we had also found time (somehow) to open our Guatemalan bank accounts. 

So... did I live up to my own words yesterday? I don't know. I have seen monkeys throw fits in the zoo... and I think I came close several times. But, you know what?

I wouldn't trade yesterday for a perfect day. It was a wonderful day of lessons, of patience, of an incredible friend sticking beside us through the tough petty frustrations that sometimes find us in a day... and it helped me to realize:

when it comes to following God... I have to do better than just to imitate him. I have to do better than to simply not break the rules or hurt myself. I have to aspire to live with His heart.

I have to "aspire to be more than a monkey!"

____________________________________________

I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. 

Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. 

I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

~Philippians 12-14 

(hoo-hoo-hoo-hee-ha-ha-ha-heeeee! -monkey talk).