tHe wOrLd iS dEsPeRaTe 4 hOpE...

The country is desperate to hear something hopeful...
"All the news is about catastrophes, unemployment, factories closing down, the economic "crisis", blood, blood and more blood...people need to know that there's something good going on and it´s not all bad..."...

That's what the Tv journalist told me when I was still considering twhether or not to accept an interview... I really don´t like Tv.


I asked something else before:
"what makes this place good news?" and she immediately said:

" because it will show people a different way to live life"... I looked at Ton and said : "fair enough! We can do this."

We simply had a good conversation and she asked very good questions to me, Ton and Daniel...
I spoke mainly about how God made a miracle to buy this place, and how we wish it to be a place of rest, prayer, work and fellowship...how we are to be more responsible in the way we use our natural resources, how we should all live more simply so that everyone in the world can have the essentials to live life...

I don't really remember what I said when they were filming because we spoke a lot before...
Ton spoke about his time in India and how he came to realize that the best way to fight poverty is if every individual would change their heart and consequently their lifestyle, living more simply... he said that everyone should realize that all other fellow human beings are our brother and sister, and actually, all other people are like us, that we should see human kind as one...
Like I said, he also reinforced that if we would all live more simply there would be enough for everyone... he also said that NGOs like UNICEF are a joke, and very impotent to solve the problem of poverty, but I'm not sure they will broadcast that...

Daniel spoke about his desire to live with nature and learn more about sustainable living in order to do something good back in his home country, Zimbabwe... he mentioned that he loved the lifestyle in the countryside because he finds more time for himself and more silence...the journalist was amazed when she asked him his age and he said 23... she was expecting him to be around 30 years old, and I'm sure it was not by the way he looks, but because he shares so much wisdom for a 23 year old man...

In the end we were all content, and I do hope and pray that the Spirit of God would touch hearts while people watch the national news today...

May it be like a "voice in the wilderness" calling out people to consider their lifestyle and hopefully to change... that is the real hope... we shouldn't expect hope to come from the outside, it cannot be promised by any human Government, but it has to come from within each one's heart... a choice of/for LIFE...

people are looking for heros to come and save them... American's are longing for Obama to solve all their problems... But the Hero we need has already come, more than 2000 years ago... And we still reject and ignore Jesus and his radical message, as he was rejected then... Jesus came to speak of another way to live, closer to land, in another Kingdom that is not human or material, a kingdom of Justice and of Love and with another kind of richness, that we cannot grasp yet.

I leave you with a passage to meditate from the apostle Paul to a community of christians that was formed in the metropole city of Corinth, previously Greek but at the time a colony of the Roman Empire (chapter 1, verses 19-31):

19 For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

20 Where are the wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ...25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are..."

We might be seen as foolish...
We might be seen to fail...
We might be weak...
We are not perfect...
We might be seen as "the scum of the earth"...
We might be seen as losers and failures...
We might be seen as poor...
but we are happy !!! and blessed !!!

What is happening at Mount of Oaks it´s not because we're extraordinary people or because we're doing extraordinary things... We are but ordinary people... it is only and solely because God was foolish enough to call us for a task such as this, and we were foolish enough to respond ...

Paul continues...
"...so that no one may boast before God.  It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let those who boast, boast in the Lord."

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AS I WAS FINISHING THIS POST, I GOT A CALL FROM MY SISTER SAYING THAT MY GRANDMOTHER DIED...

I just want to add an homage to this woman, Judite, who lived 95 years. She was a farmer, a pioneer, she rarely got sick... she was tough... I would spend part of the summer holidays with her, my grandfather, my uncle and aunt and their 2 sons, in a small village in the centre of Portugal called "Vale de Açores". I would help her pick grapes for eating and make wine, she always had an amazing vegetable garden and animals like chikens, rabbits and a pig...my grandfather would kill the pig with the other man from the village who were all family... she would make all the "enchidos" (chorizos and many other similar things)... I learned a lot about community and simple living in that village with the "Rosa" and "Simões" families... I know she was not the easiest person to deal with, but I admired her for what she handled in life...

I will not forget the expression in her eyes when I last saw her... We were speaking about gardening and planting potatoes (which she did a few months before she died), when she looked me in the eyes and said :

" You know what my child?! I just love gardening!"

Here is her beautiful sun wrinkled face glimmering with joy...

these words kept ringing in my heart since then... she lived most of her life gardening... my mum said that I got the "bug" of gardening from her... Bem Haja Avó Judite, boa viagem !

I know one day we'll meet again...

There is life after death, but there is also life before we die... It´s up to us to live it and allow others to live it as well...