Redefining Christianity

Is it true that the church of today, the church that is called after Christ`s own name, would refuse to follow him at the expense of suffering, of phisical lost, of temporary gain? That is a question that is hunting me down every single day. I have read the book called "In His Steps" over and over again and every time I read it God speaks to me in a powerful way about sacrifices and suffering.

Today, our churches contains for the most part men and women who think more of their ease and luxury than of the sufferings and needs and sins of humanity. How far is that true? Are Christians of Brazil ready to have their discipleship tested? How about the men who possess large wealth in Brazil or the U.S.A? Are they ready to take that wealth and use it as Jesus would? How about the men and women of great talent? Are they ready to consecrate that talent to humanity as Jesus undoubtedly would do?

If every Christian in Brazil or the U.S.A did as Jesus would do, society itself, the business world, yes, the very political system under which our commercial and governmental activity is carried on, would be so changed that human suffering would be reduced to a minimum? What would be the result if all the the church members of Belo Horizonte tried to do as Jesus would do? It is not possible to say in detail what the effect would be. But it is easy to say, and it is true, that instantly the human problem would begin to find and adequate answer.

Is it true that Christian disciples today in most of our churche here in Brazil or around the world are living soft, easy, selfish lives, very far from any sacrifice that can be called sacrifice? What would Jesus do? What would Jesus do in the matter of wealth? How would he spend it? What principle would regulate his use of money? Would he be likely to live in great luxury and spend ten times as much on personal adornment and entertainment as He spent to relieve the needs of suffering humanity? How would Jesus be governed in the making of money? Would he work in a bar and sell alcohol? There are so many christians today that work in bars here in Brazil and they sell alcohol the whole day and then they go to church at night and ask God to bless their job and their hands.

Are we ready to take up our cross? What is discipleship? If our definition of being a Christian is simply to enjoy the privilges of worship, be generous at no expense to ourselves, have a good, easy time surrounded by pleasant friends and by comfortable things, live respectably and at the same time avoid the world`s great stress of sin and trouble because it is too much pain to bear it-if this is our definition of Christianity, surely we are a long way from following the steps of Him who trod the way with groans and tears and sobs of anguish for a lost humanity;who sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, who cried out on the unreared cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

I am ready to imitate Jesus. I am ready to do as He would do. I am ready to walk in His steps. I am ready to rescue the perishing, I am ready to care for the dying, I am going to fight for those who suffer, I am going to be part of the solution of this world,I am going to bring Jesus to those that are hopeless. But my question to you is "Are you going to join us?"

Are Street-Kids more important than your Dog?

On the streets of Brazil there is somethinbg you can always find. Whereve you see street kids or any homeless you will always see some or a lot of dogs. But the dogs hurt their feet on broken glass, distemper kills the puppies meaning the little dogs but on the streets we were big fans of big dogs, while worms, fleas and other parasites would be great part of our dog’s lives too.

The dogs used to come from different parts of the cities or from the slums. In Brazil we have a lot of dogs wandering on the streets and of course street kids too.Coming from the streets myself I'm sure that the kids on the streets owning pets. We on the streets used take such a good care of our pets then we do ourselves due to the fact that they are the only things we had that we could talk to and know we could trust. I remember we had names for our dogs and we used to talk to them like if they were human beings especially when we were drunk or high that’s when we would talk to the dogs the most and we used to tell the dogs personal stories and I still remember the name of my favorite dog on the streets. His name was “Pretinho” and that means “little black”

But I have a question for all of you who are reading this blog, aren`t the kids more important than dogs? Aren`t we supposed to be fighting for kids who can`t fight for themselves? So why do we have close to 10 million kids around the cities in Brazil? So why we do have around 100 million homeless kids in the world? I love dogs but I can`t understand how people in Brazil and around the world can spend so much money on dog food and caring for their dogs while we have millions of kids suffering around the world. Here in Brazil we have so many rich ladies and families who spend thousand of dollars on their dogs and that almost make me puke or cry my heart out because I was just few minutes ago talking so some street kids here in Brazil and they were all looking for a way out of the streets but they don`t have anywhere to go. They were asking me if I could take them home but I told them I didn`t have a place for them but someday I will. I told them about my dreams and my dreams are to have houses around the world that will take in street kids and missionaries and people will educate, love, care for these precious children that God loves so much. Will you consider fighting for these unloved, forgotten children around the world?

Julia "Neguinha"

I used to love Julia because she was about my age and I was really close to her. I remember everyone used to call her “Neguinha” and that means “black girl” and she used to be so nice to me. I remember we did kiss few times but I never had the courage to have sex with her because I knew she had had sex with many people before. She had sold her body many times before and she was always with different street kids. She always tried to have me sleep with her but I was always afraid because people used to say she had a disease that killed but I never knew what that meant.

I remember one day at night we were seating on the streets and we were really close to each other and we started sharing our lives and our past. I don`t know what was happening to me because I hate sharing about my past but that day I was so open maybe because I felt safe around her. I told her about my father and my past and she just listened and many times she used to agree by nodding her head and that meant her father was very abusive to her too.

Then after I was done she started telling me her story by gazing at the floor. It was a horrific story and I will never forget it. She told me that her mother died by her father. Then her father turned the gun on himself and Julia was found sleeping on the bed between her parent` bed when she was only 3 and a half. They were really poor and they lived on the slums and they didn`t have furniture so they had to sleep together. Julia told me about the domestic violence she had to go through and the chaotic living.

Julia tried very hard to forget about what happened to her and her parents but after that incident she started having nightmares and she became very sad and frightening. When Julia was telling me her story she never looked at me and I remember she started crying telling me about her fears and worries. She was in my life for a year on the streets and after I left the streets, I did see her couple of times but now I have no idea if she`s alive or dead. I hope my “Neguinha” is alive because she was truly my friend and I really liked her because she was good to me.