Being the Sideshow…Again.

Had a very fun afternoon today. Here in Guatemala, being white, tall, bald, and for 40 days growing blazing red pork chop side burns (like my great, great, great grandfather, Septimus Blacklock. For real, his name was Septimus), I can draw a lot of attention. When people stare at me here, I just stare back until they turn away. It makes for some fun times. We call our family, “The Side Show”, because of the attention we draw.

Anyways, today was an especially sideshowy day; in the lovely town of Guazacapan.

Liam and I were driving to the health center there to pick 5 of our Casa Esperanza kids and a Tia. We were almost there and the tire goes flat. I check it out and there is a nail sticking out.  I pull it out and we walk up to pick up the kids. Then we return.  Because this is a unique vehicle it takes me a while to find the spare tire, the jack and the rest of the stuff. (For example, the jack is under the hood).

I get the flat out from underneath and it is dirty and FLAT. Being Guatemala, there is always a “Pinchazo” (tire fixing) store close by. I walk 100 meters to the place and get the tire filled up.

To start the compressor, the young man takes a live wire and touches it to another wire to send the electricity through. I see the spark and hear the electricity moving. (never seen it done that way before.)

I get the tire filled and then I head back to the car. (Remember I am white, tall, bald, and have blazing pork chops and a flat tire leading Liam and 6 Guatemalans through the streets, so I have already attracted enough attention.)

There are no cars coming either way, so I start rolling the tire; quickly, with a bit of bouncing. No problem. I start running after it and push it along, until it hits a bump and I lose control of it.

The tire then bounces to the side of the street and DOWN what we would consider the sewer. No problem, I say quickly to myself as I see it fall 10 feet down and hit the bottom; I can get that. But then it disappears into the culvert. (Big concrete pipe that drains away all rain, fluids, etc.)

Now I have attracted a lot of attention.

I look down the hole, dumbfounded, laughing and thinking how could this happen. After a minute or two, I start to climb down. I am thinking that I need to check and see if the tire went anywhere. The slanted sides were very slimy and slippery, but it was no problem getting down there. I had 10-15 Guatemalans supervising and laughing and offering their advice.

I see the tire. It did not go anywhere. No Problem. Then one Guatemalan, from the street, who speaks some English, says, “Be careful, my dog lives down there.”

I say, “What?? Does he bite??”

Then I say, “Can you come and get the tire for me?”

I climb out and he goes down and gets it. I did not want to risk any bites.

We get the tire on and head safely back to Fe Viva. I tell all the kids not to say a word about this crazy escapade, knowing full well everyone will find out.

LONG LIVE THE BLACKLOCK SIDE SHOW!!!!!

 

 

The Power of The Blessing

I (Matt) experienced an amazing moment in my life this summer that I would classify as one of the top 5 impactful moments of my life; and it came as a HUGE surprise. We were home this summer from Guatemala; resting, working, finding out 3 of us have Celiac, enjoying Canada, prepping for a bunch of push ups and generally processing through the inner workings of the soul. I would call it a good summer and a hard summer. The summer of 2013; which also happens to be my 40^th year on the planet.

The day was Wednesday August 13^th. My lovely wife Kerry and our friends Loren and Cathy Jespersen were organizing a small golf tournament for Fe Viva. They had worked hard getting it ready and yet there were still problems leading up to the day. One problem was me; I am not a fan of golf and I mentioned to Kerry that I was planning not to go, but attend the BBQ afterwards. She said that I could not skip it because I have to represent Fe Viva that the tourney. So I went, had lots of fun and then at the BBQ received one of the biggest surprises of my life. Towards the end of the BBQ it was revealed to me that this whole day was all a guise for a 40^th birthday party. I was not going to be in Canada to celebrate with friends there, but Kerry and Cathy planned a great big one for my.

It was an amazing experience. At the end of the night, friends and family spoke of blessings, prayers and encouragement over my life. I cried the whole time. The words people spoke over me were so powerful that I would say that it was one of the top 5 experiences of my life. Those blessings were huge and they will remain with me for the rest of my life.

Now during this time I was preparing for another big event, because I like to do big, crazy events, and the power of this night created something that blessed many people. I call it the Power of the Blessing. I was preparing to do 10,000 push ups in one week. (Another crazy idea that I always seem to come up with.) I had a few people who were joining me, but that night I found out that there were many others that were going to join me. I had not promoted this event that much; I was tired all summer and just wanted to stick to my word that I would do these push ups and hope that we would raise a few thousand dollars. That night I found out that people were going to sponsor a good amount and as it turned out we raised over $72,000 that week.

I strongly believe that this all came about because of the blessings that people spoke over me.  These words created something incredible. It was not because I had a good idea, or was an incredible promoter, but because of the love, power and blessings of people and their belief in me. I would like to thank everyone for blessing me, encouraging me and believing in me. One thing that God has spoken again and again this year that I will use for the rest of my life is this:

If you know you are loved, you can accomplish anything.

 

Remember people; we are loved by the creator of love and He gave His all for us. Let’s give our all for him.

To Those Who Will Not Shrink Back.

Revelation 12:11