Randy Wray’s Blog

Like many areas we have our fair share of churches of Christ. These churches are not only arrayed geographically they are arrayed philosophically. One of the churches in our area apparently still believes they have the authority to tell all the other churches what to do, or what not to do, as they see fit. I thought we had grown past this absurd practice in our movement. It appears I thought wrong.

Our church is not even in the fray this time (surprise, surprise). This particular church published an entire newsletter condemning another church in our area for having a Saturday night event featuring a praise band. One of our members received this publication in the mail and showed it to me last night. I am so sick of this type of publication. I am so sick of this beam-eyed religious pretense. I am so ashamed of our movement at times like this.

What about church autonomy? All I hear is restore the pattern, restore the pattern but you never heard that from Jesus. Jesus never said restore the pattern (which some men thought up in the first place) and then you will be known as my true followers. Jesus said restore the spirit of love to be known as his true followers. Love, acceptance and tolerance among brothers and sisters in Christ are the indicators of those who belong to Jesus Christ.

This publication said something like “we are so grieved at what happened here in northern Virginia.” The only thing, connected to this particular event, which grieves the Lord is the attitude of those who wrote, published and sent out that newsletter.

I support any church and their decision not to have a praise night featuring a praise band. I support any church and their decision to have a praise night featuring a praise band. We have had a Saturday night fellowship event featuring a praise band twice in the past year and plan to have more. I do not support and take great offense at the critical spirit behind such attitudes which blossom in publications of this nature.

My personal response to this event will be to spend some additional time in the solace of Romans 14 and to pray. Praying for my brothers and sister who stumble and praying for my brothers and sister who are becoming all things to all people so that by all possible means some might be saved.

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Home. It’s always nice to get home. You can have a great time, enjoy seeing friends and family, stay in some nice places but nothing compares to sleeping in your own bed.

My favorite part of coming home (odd as it may sound) is the shower. I am a big fan of the shower and there is something special about your own shower. That’s when I know I am home.

What’s your favorite part about coming home?

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We’ve been relaxing and enjoying the sun and the pool today at la casa de Greg. I hit the wall around noon-time on Friday and have been slowly crawling my way back to feeling normal. It’s been nice to spend a day goofing off and having fun with the family.

The Englands have a Shetland pony they think is a dog. She’s not a handful, as I do not have that many hands. A pest control company came to spray today and informed us the family equestrian could not be in the back yard during the spraying and for another at least an hour. We opened the back door thinking we could keep Mrs. Ed in the kitchen. She placed one hoof on the kitchen floor and was gone galloping through the house. Talk about your wake up call, the kids experienced the full meal deal with a good morning kiss from Chipper. What a way to start the day!

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We went back to Rosarito yesterday and were slightly dismayed with all that needed to be done. We left around 8PM that night slightly amazed at what our small, struggling band of survivors were able to accomplish. We had to take the roof off and do it again. It would have been nice to have found the CTRL X and the CTRL P construction keys.

The crew worked hard and we finished all the sheetrock work (except for the bathroom). We put the roof decking on, put on the laminate roof and finished the end blocks. We left the house in a “finished” stage so that with some more sweat equity from the owner they will be moving in soon.

This morning we will run down to the tourist part of town for a couple of hours before we had back to points north and east.

Can you believe I have been here a whole week and have not had 1 (I REPEAT, I HAVE NOT HAD ONE) shrimp taco?

The remnant of the VA team will catch an early morning flight (SATURDAY) to head back. Beth, the kids and I will spend a few days in the Long Beach area visiting with our California relatives.

Thanks for all your prayers and all your support. We’ve had another enriching experience. Why don’t you consider going with us next year?

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Tired and sore. These are the only appropriate words I can find to describe the current state of mind and body. I ache in places I didn’t even know I had places. The energy has slipped some since the departure of the VA and LB people. Two more people returned home today so we are down to the faithful, the remnant, yes those who truly love the Lord!

We head back to Rosarito tomorrow to put on the roof. With that the Rosarito house will be finished.

Did I mention the Ensenada house is finished?

I use the term finished liberally because there are some details and other things to be done for the house to be finished. We are finished with what we came to do on this house project. The owner (who has been working with us as she can) will invest some further sweat equity in some detail work and exterior painting.

The walls are up, the roof is on, the wiring is complete (and probably the best wiring job I’ve ever seen), the sheet rock has been hung, the seams have been taped and the mud has been applied. It came down to the wire! We had to start tearing down the bathroom shelter for the material. We even had to start choping up the ladder! If there had been any trees around . . .

The doors and windows will be installed by a “professional” in the next couple of days.

Our team has worked hard, we’ve been supported tremendously from our home churches and from the Ensenada church. I’m still waiting for that overwhelming sense of satisfaction. Right now I’m too tired and sore to feel anything.

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Today was a very different day. Part of our VA crew headed home today as planned. Part of the Long Beach crew had planned to head home today as well but because of the gravity of Greg’s mother they have all departed.

There are just a few of us left. It feels like we’ve just had tribal council and sent a whole tribe home! We miss the friends we’ve made. We miss not being able to see this project through to the end with the Long Beach team.

In the melee of everyone leaving one of the remaining survivors described those of us left behind as rats on a sinking ship. Yikes!

The ship (house) is still very much afloat. We worked well into the night working on the roof and other detail / finishing tasks. The roof structure was secured and stabilized. We finished most of the sheetrock and mud work. We attached the outside facia-board and put on 2/3 of the roof decking.

We even had time for personal prayer and meditation:

Tomorrow we plan to finish the sheetrock, roof decking and install the galvanized aluminum roof.

Hopefully we can keep everyone else from going home!

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Another effective work day. I’m thrilled (and somewhat surprised) at the progress we have made. The Ensenada house is about 75% complete. Today we finished the interior walls and put up most around 75% of the sheetrock. We have some sheet rock left to hang as well as the roof decking and the roof sheets.

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Day 3 (Saturday) - We made a lot of progress today. The Ensenada crew built the remaining exterior walls and framed out 4 interior walls. We only have the bathroom walls to frame out.

There’s something deflating about working all day long and being able to describe the effort in two sentences. Don’t let the two sentences fool you. They are two very powerful and hard earned sentences.

Most of the Rosarito crew arrived in Ensenada Saturday late afternoon. The report on the work seems to be 75% completed.

Day 4 (Sunday) - We spent an enjoyable time with the church family here in Ensenada. The effort is made to make the foreigners feel at home. It’s an interesting turn of events to be the foreigner rather than receiving the foreigner. It makes you consider how you treat those who may not understand our methods and ways. We had class together - Steve from Long Beach taught and I attempted to translate. We sang, prayed and shared in the Lord Supper together and I preached in Spanish. The best part, however, is of course the potluck. The Curcio family was well represented by Michael who seems determined to pick up where Anthony left off. Oh to have that appetite with that metabolism!

Most of the group is out today seeing the sights. Having seen the sights and realizing they have not changed since the first sighting, I have chosen to stay home and rest. We will back on task in the morning with much work to be done.

Here’s my favorite picture so far:

Greg (the supervisor) is keeping a watchful eye on the troops!

It is such a treat to be involved with Beth and the bambinos on this trip. I’m hoping all the good things we do in connection with this trip will be a health part of their formative experiences.

Keep my friend Greg and his family in your prayers. His mother is failing in health. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her and she is one sweet, caring lady. Greg spoke with her and she told him she was praying for us and for our work here in Mexico. That’s just the kind of woman she is.

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A picture of the house in Rosarito:

A picture of the office in Rosarito:

More updates later tonight.

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Day 1 - We arrived in Long Beach after an early morning flight and hit the ground running. We met up with the Long Beach team and began the drive to Rosarito. We ended up losing 3 of the cars in Tijuana after 45 seconds of crossing the border. It was rather tense (especially for the lost cars) as we sorted things out. We arrived in Rosarito around 2:30PM and got to work right away. We put the roof on the office, the top decking and the aluminum roof plates. The brothers had worked in between Jess and his crew and our arrival managing to build three walls. We finished the fourth wall to enclose the shell and worked on some of the interior walls. Because of the size of our groups and the sleeping / work situation we decided to split teams and send a team (this now being 11PM) on to Ensenada. Justin (and family) stayed to oversee the project in Rosarito and I went with the Ensenada crew to begin the house for Rosalba. The remaining VA crew were collected from the San Diego airport and arrived to work in Rosarito. Needless to say we were a bit tired when we arrived in Ensenada and found some sleep well after midnight.

Day 2 - The Ensenada crew began the day with a clear slab. Thank you, thank you, thank you Jess! We have a smaller team here right now and were able to involved all team members and we accomplished a great deal. We managed to build and frame three exterior walls. We drove away tonight from the job site and from far down the road you could see the shell of the house. You could also see our impromptu outhouse. The Rosarito crew was able to finish the office and have raised up all the exterior and interior walls. They will begin sheetrock in the morning. I will try to get some pictures posted soon.

God has been good to us getting us all here safely and blessing the work of our hands. Now we need his healing and restoration for our sore muscles!

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