Why Do I Compare, My self With Others?

Before I became a Christian I would often compare myself with others trying to find someone who seemed to be worse then myself trying to make myself look better. It never works and Paul describes how pointless this is in 2 Cor 10: 12 "Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another they are without understanding." Before I became a Christian I was in the habit of comparing and when I became a Christian this was a habit I did not brake. I would compare myself to other Christians and think that I was just as "spiritual" as they were and thus I was ok, I didn't need to strive any harder to become more like Jesus. I don't know how spiritual someone is but I do know that Jesus has said "Be ye Holy as I am Holy" this is a high calling, I know I am not there yet, but it is something that I must pursue if I am going to take the name Christian.

I have recently watched a message on You Tube and it really challenged me in this area as well as others. I would strongly recommend you taking the time to watch this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuabITeO4l8 It is one hour long but it is definitely worth the hour please watch it. While watching this, the man who was speaking was pointing out how wrong comparing myself with others is. I wanted to look better and more important, but that is the opposite of what Christ wants for me. He wants others to see less of me and more of Him. As John the Apostle would say "I must decrease and He must increase." I must not compare myself to others but to Christ. I am to imitate Him or follow Him, Eph 5:1,2 " Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." I cannot compare myself to others in the body of Christ because they have different task and they are going to be different from what Christ wants me to be. As I keep my eyes on Him I will become the person He wants me to be.

It has been another busy week. James and I went up and helped in Tepic from Monday till Thursday. We helped with painting steel doors and walls, plumbing for a sink and pressure pump, installing lights, replacing ceiling tiles and other random jobs. There were about four other men there working as well. As they say many hands make light work.

Here James is replacing a ceiling tile. Our scaffold wasn't high enough so we had to tie a ladder on to the side of the scaffold to get up there. Don't try this at home.

Jason Wahl painting

James painting the largest door and so glad that he finally figured out how to use the sprayer properly so that it doesn't get paint all over.

Here the outside is all freshly painted and finished. This new building is right along side their other building. It is for their kitchen and dinning area.

Nice big kitchen and serving window.

Here James and I are enjoying our work just a little to much. We had to laugh or we would have cried, these light fixtures weren't the best quality which made them quite frustrating to install.

All the lights finally installed

It had been a while since the whole family here had gone out somewhere together just to have fun, so Saturday we all took the afternoon and went for a hike. Back in January and February of this year I was down here and James and I had gone to this water fall a couple of times and Nelly had seen lots of pictures and seen video of this place but had never been there in person and she wanted to see it. So with three adults and four kids we set out. First we drove for about half an hour on these very rough back country "roads" and then once we had driven as far as the van could go we had to walk the last three quarters of a kilometer into the falls. James and I as I said had done it before by ourselves but it proved to be a little more difficult with some little boys on our shoulders. Nelly was carrying Natalia as well and we had to help Levi through many places but he was a real trooper and did a great job.

The beginning of our hike.

Natalia just hanging on for the ride

A break for a family picture Andrew should have been in the picture too, but he was on my shoulders.

A beautiful spot along the way.

Every now and then we had to stop and pass the kids one by one through a difficult part we couldn't climb through with them on us. This was right after one of those places. Andrew, Simon, Levi and Natalia

I am cooling Natalia's feet down. The water was quite cool and little cooler then she preferred

Natalia wasn't quite sure what to think of me when I first arrived, but she is getting usto me and lets me hold here sometimes now, which is nice.

We all made it with no injuries maybe a few scratches though. James and Nelly with their family.

This is the place we set out to see. It is a very nice place tucked away back in the rocks that very few people know about.

The blurr in the middle of the picture is me jumping.

Simon doing a little exploring.

"Um excuse me this is harder then it looks" It seems Natalia and I have something in common, a love for rock climbing.

This was Andrew's perch for the trip he got scared a few times while up on my shoulders but over all he didn't think the hike was all that hard and said he wanted to do it again.

Since I had carried him on my shoulder most of the trip close to the end I told him he had to carry me on his shoulders.

James thought it was only fair if Simon would do the same for him.

James took this picture of me holding Natalia just before we left.

After our hike we were all tired and hungry so we went into Tepic because we had to get a few more supplies that we needed for the burger stand that we are still working on. I will post more pictures of it soon. We went to this nice little Taco place to get rid of our hunger and it worked really well and we enjoy ourselves while doing it.

These are real tacos my friends and a couple quesadillas. No they don't taste like Taco Bell, they taste much better.

There is a conference in Tepic all day tomorrow. We will be going up in the morning and taking many of the Christians and their friends up with us. We are hoping that it will be beneficial for all who attend. I am hoping that I will be able to understand a little of what is said too.

Tuesday all the missionaries are getting together for American Thanksgiving. Boy I am hitting it just right I got to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving and now I get to enjoy another Turkey dinner here as well. I am blessed.

I would like to ask special prayer for a friend of mine back home. Her name is Daisy she is an elderly widow and God has allowed me to know here and she has been a great encouragement and a really prayer warrior for me. She has been living on here own and here eye site has been getting quite poor lately and a week ago last Saturday she fell down the stairs at her house and broke her pelvis. I just got off the phone from speaking with her. She doesn't think she will be able to go back and live by herself anymore. She is a dear Christian and she said that she would have been just fine if God had taken her home when she fell, but she says that God must still have a work for me to do here. Please pray that she would know what it is that God still has for her to do and that as she recovers some that she would be able to find a nursing home to go to. Thanks so much for your prayers, she says there is nothing that gives her more joy then to know that someone is praying for her.