Jackie's Journey "Ignorance is Bliss!"

The Darién Gap: What to know before you go.

Wait… Maybe don't go…too late…

We went!

Inside the Darién Gap,

one of the world’s most dangerous jungles…!

“Ignorance is bliss”.  I’ve heard that said all my life.  Reality struck this week when reading on line about our location in the jungles of Panama. I am  going to share now, what I am sooo glad I did not know…when we headed up the Pucuro river to our Kuna village near the Colombian border in the Darien Gap!

 It all started the day we drove the Pan-American Highway, which is an epic 19,000-mile route that starts in Alaska and terminates in Argentina.  It’s continuous except for a small section missing along the southern border of Panama, often referred to as one of the most inhospitable places on the planet — this is the Darién Gap.

 It’s 66 roadless miles of dense, mountainous jungle and swamp filled with armed guerillas, drug traffickers, and some of the world’s most deadly creatures covering the border of Panama and Colombia. 

Just to mention few:

·       Fer-de-lance pit vipers (killed regularly)

·       Drug traffickers and FARC armed guerillas ( FARC kidnapped and killed our three missionary men out of our Kuna village homes)

·       Brazilian wandering spiders (pictured above; one made its way onto my sheet hanging on the clothes-line and then was carried into my house!)

·       Black scorpions (it took Ralphs size 14 army boot to kill the one under our bed!)

·       Jungle heat and dirty water (95 degrees and 95% humidity!)

 It brings me great comfort to know that God withheld this information from me. The Gap is most famous for: Things that will kill you.!  Who knew??  The list of deadly things inside the Gap is lengthy, and dehydration and starvation are the least of the obvious concerns. Instead, there were very real threats.

 The lawlessness and lack of residents made the Darién Gap a perfect path for drug traffickers of cocaine, fentanyl  and etc.  They passed through our village, using the  trail about 18’ from our house!  We had no idea who these strangers were and  would  offer food, drink and a place to sleep the night. Always with the intent of presenting Christ in the course of the evening.

Active since 1964, FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces) armed guerillas dropped in by helicopter one day to terrorize us into leaving.  A backpacker from Sweden was shot in the head in 2013 and found two years later. Multiple others have been kidnapped for weeks or months after venturing into the Gap.

 Everything in the jungle is giant sized!  Spiders fill the jungles of the Darién Gap, but one of the most threatening is the Brazilian Wandering spider. “You’re going to have a really bad day if this bites you!”. This family of spiders (there are more than one!) has a leg span of five to seven inches. They wander the jungle floor at night and love to hide in people’s hiking boots, logs, sheets(!) and  banana plants. Bites from this spider can cause death in 2 to 6 hours.

Jungle scorpions look like they’re from another planet.  The black scorpion calls the Darién Gap home.  The one I killed under our bed was 9’-11’ long!  They live under rocks and logs and hunt for larvae and cockroaches at night.

The Darien Gap boasts of malaria carrying mosquitos, burrowing Botflies, Chiggars galore, an unreal volume of disease-carrying ticks, blood-sucking vampire bats, flesh-decaying trench foot, even undetonated Cold War bombs!  And let’s not forget the river crocodiles (I never saw one)…and snakes that hide in the massive tree trunks that grow into the river’s edge.

Even the trees teach a lesson to be learned, as the 8” spikes on the Chunga tree demonstrate. One brush against its spiny exterior introduces all kind of infecting bacteria, plus, a wound full of embedded spines.

So, the Darién Gap sounds downright peachy to visit, doesn’t it?

My husband used to talk to me, his “little much afraid”,  before our first trip to Panama,  about Jesus sending out the seventy-two with specific instructions to “count the cost” and then, he reassured me that they were “given authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm (them) you.” Luke 10: 19 

With that promise we went and it was better than “peachy”…

It was the beginning of a journey with God that changed my life…

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey "Storms May Come and Go...BUT!"

Do you ever feel like the bluster all around you is an indication of what the future holds?  The tornado is coming…what do I do?   There is no “stop” in the midst of the swirling tempest. At times, it seems like the downpour is all we can take.  We find  ourselves rushing into the wind, hopelessly grasping for some “relief”.  Sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees. 

 “Our God in heaven does whatever pleases Him. Psa. 115: 3  The storm that was sent to break us, is going to be the storm that God uses to make us!  When we come out of the storm, we won’t be the same person that walked into it.  That’s what the storm is all about!”

 “The river was  beating against the rocks in huge dashing waves.  The lightning was flashing; the thunder was roaring; the wind was blowing; but the little bird was asleep in the crevice of a rock, its head serenely tucked under its wing…sound asleep!  That is peace…to be  able to sleep in the storm!   In Christ, we are relaxed and at peace in the midst of the confusions, bewilderments, and perplexities of this life.  The storm rages, but our hearts are at rest.  We have found peace…at last.” Billy Graham

 My girls and I used to sing a song in the jungle when the rain was so fierce it came through the bark walls and half-way across our living room floor! The thunder was so loud our tin roof shook and the wind and lightning filled the whole Darien with light!  The river, eighteen feet from our front door, could rise 10 feet in a few hours!  We were on alert, in the event that the rivers rage would come over the bank and into our house…

 It was great comfort to lift our voices in song, as we cuddled together in the hammock that was hung from beam to beam in that little remote room. The “storms may  come and go but the peace of  God we will  know.” We were wet, but we were at peace.  God knew and directed the rain, the river and  our hearts when we surrendered our will to His.

 Maintaining the right focus makes all the difference.

 Stand up in the storm this week and in gratefulness,

Find peace by yielding to His will in your life…

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey "The Sureness of Uncertainty!"

Being sure of something is a forever quest because life is so full of uncertainties!  Knowing we can count on someone is a welcomed consolation in times of turmoil, shock and confusion, but the promise of its permanence is unknown. Having confidence in an outcome is a luxury we don’t always have, but we think our well-being depends on it. There is very little in life that we can be absolutely certain about; yet, it is the mark of the “common-sense” life that we find ourselves in.

 “Use your common sense, Jackie”, my Dad used to say to me.  I wondered about everything and the future was at the top of my list!  What if…or what happens next?  Then…out of nowhere, the day of uncertainty becomes a drastic reality!

 “Gracious Uncertainty” is the mark of the spiritual life.  The very nature of our spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty.”  We are uncertain of our next step,  BUT we are certain of God. Oswald Chambers 

 HE has the plan, direction and purpose. The unsure fades, as long as our eyes are focused on HIM and not our circumstances. We can be certain HE will take care of all the uncertainties. The simple surrender to His will over our own; the abandonment of self-preservation (trying to make it work and failing miserably),  “brings a spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectation”.

 Knowing God is sovereign and needs no help from me, apart from my intentional surrender and obedience to Him, is a certainty I can put my confidence in.  Understanding HE is not only in control, but HE has my best interest at heart and has divine purpose in it all, brings that spontaneous, joyful expectation.

 “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is my strength.”

Neh. 8: 10b

 Have a great week…

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey "Please...Don't Judge Me!"

I have a Ragdoll cat that entertains me continually.  She has a little OCD and came with separation anxiety disorder!  She has lived here for ten years.  When Ralph didn’t come back, she waited and waited for him, listening at the door,  every night for weeks! Then, instead of making the adjustment, she licked until she had a bald spot on her neck!  She is a prolific hunter and goes into high alert, instantly!  She is able to discern the intention of her prey by evaluating every tiny sound or movement.

 I recently had a young girl tell me she had the gift of discernment.  As I thought about the requirement to be alert to the needs of people, as well as the need when making important decisions, I started jotting down thoughts on how does this all play out in real  life?

 We are to exercise our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, hands, mind  and heart in sensing what is clean and unclean for us. We are called to choose wisely, so as to maintain a “walk in holiness”. (I Thess. 4: 7)  No hidden or unconfessed sin and no unresolved relationship is a good test for checking how clean our heart is.

 When God told Solomon to ask for anything he wanted, Solomon asked for discernment.  Discernment is the ability to see the hand of God in every circumstance and to understand His intentions; distinguishing between what is good and what is evil, in order to make a wise decision.

 One who discerns examines his own life. One who judges overlooks similar fault in himself.  One who discerns checks out all the facts.  One who judges forms opinions and then looks for supporting evidence. One who discerns deals privately with another person’s failures.  One who judges condemns without discretion.

 “Discernment is God’s call to intercession, never to faut-finding”. Oswald Chambers  Discernment will observe patterns; judgement will nit-pick. Observation becomes judgement when there is no desire to provide a solution.  It takes compassion and time to be discerning and  only “a minute” to be destructive and judgmental…

 Take a check: Which are you,

Judgmental or Discerning?

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey "There's a Decision Knocking at My Door!"

Decisions…decisions…

 Difficulties in decision-making are overcome when our hearts (plural) are ready to do the Lord’s will, whatever it may be.  When my husband, Ralph, was here, we put our wills in neutral and prayerfully sought the counsel of God who held our future. We allowed peace to decide…not my will or his,  but His peace in our hearts (plural). (Phil. 4: 7)

 I am finding decisions are harder for me now…

there is only one heart! (singular)

 I am reminded of the Four D”s of decision-making:

1.   Don’t – If it is the responsibility of others, let them do it.

2.   Delay – if it should be done at a better time,  wait.

3.   Delegate – if others can do it better, let them.

4.   Do It – if none of the above apply…do it!  Dr. Glen Heck

 Life is a continuous series of exchanges based on wise or unwise decisions.  We build decisiveness when we refuse to reconsider a decision that we know is right and not in harmony with God’s Word.  Proverbs 11: 14 is clear …”where no counsel is, people fall; but in a multitude of counselors there is safety.” 

 Seems  to me, there are a horde of decisions that need to be made after the loss of a partner (60 years). What do I need to be asking myself? 

1.   Is my use of things consistent with the purposes for which God created them? (money, family, food, clothes, time, friends…)

2.   Whose jurisdiction am I under? (husband, parents, government, church; The Word of God…)

3.   Can I make this decision with a clear conscience?

4.   Am I in harmony with all those involved in the decision?

5.   Have I yielded my rights on this decision?

6.   Will it cause someone else to stumble?

7.   Is  this part of God’s purpose for my life?

 The little decisions we make now determine

the big decisions we will make later.

What do you do when a decision comes knocking?

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey "Dissatisfied?"

I’ve been thinking about the mouse that made his home underneath the hood of my car a few months back and ate through the wires, costing me a lot of money to have fixed and loss of the use of my car.  Well, it has been less than six months and my little friend has done it again!!  He had another huge nest and ate through my fuel pump wires this time! 

 Needless to say, my forbearance for this little pest is running thin!  It is time for drastic measures.  Then… I remembered the lesson he taught me the first time he ate through my electrical wires and I am relenting on my determination to see him eliminated permanently!

 That little creature gave me a  good lesson in being content.  He makes his house in the most obscure places and he has the ability to make himself totally comfortable with whatever is available.  He’s content that he has all he needs.

 Contentment is realizing that God has  given me everything I need for my present and future happiness.  He is all I really need and HE is always with me.  “He will show me the path of life; in His presence is the fulness of joy; at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm  16:11) 

 It has been three months since Ralph left for his heavenly home.  I am still processing how fast it all came about and what all God needs me to learn.  His Word is sweet, as is HIS presence and HIS grace is more than abundant.  I  have only praise and thanksgiving for HIS undertaking on my behalf.

 I want thank those of you who have reached out to me recently and for those of you who continue to pray me through these days of “fine-tuning”.  I have reviewed the five steps of grief and have weathered the “Shock” and skipped the middle three and went right into “Acceptance”.  God’s is sovereign and knowing HE”S got the plan continues to bring peace to my soul. I am content…

 Do you believe that God has given you all you need?

“If I am not satisfied with what I have,

 I will never be satisfied with what I want.”

Ralph Guthrie

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey "What's Worth Dying For?"

During the reign of Maximian in the third century(A.D. 286), repeated persecutions were brought against Christians.  Yet the greater the persecutions, the more  the early church grew.

 One day Maximian ordered  all his armies to assemble near the city of Gaul.  Tens of thousands of soldiers were there.  They stood at attention to give a loyalty oath which included the killing of Christians.

 The captain of 6,ooo men, known as the Thebian Legion replied to this oath by saying, ”We  will fight and die for Maximian in battle, but we will not kill Christians.  We, ourselves, are all Christians.”  

 Maximian became infuriated.  He ordered their ranks to be decimated.  Every 10th man was killed by the sword.  The remaining legion still refused!  More men were killed until the entire legion was martyred for their faith!

 The tens of thousands who watched saw men who had something worth dying for.  Soon, thousands became converted, and in A.D. 313 the entire Roman empire adopted the Christian faith.

 These men were strong in God’s Spirit.

Their faith was grounded in conviction, not preference.

 We live in a time when our fear of God is at an all-time low and our love of the world and all it offers, is at an all-time high!  God wants us mighty in spirit, “’To be strengthened with might by HIS SPIRIT in the inner man.’”

 This means God’s Word is dwelling richly in us, we are sensing His presence and recognizing His promptings. We are alert to spiritual dangers that would draw us away from Him and His purpose in our life and we are discerning of wrong attitudes and ideas that would neutralize our ability to make decisions with godly convictions and His blessing.

If HE is worth dying for…

HE is worth living for…

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey "Profoundly Unbecoming!"

In life we are confounded with choices, preferences and demands.  They come as fast and as remarkably contradictory, as presumably thinkable!  Demands on us and demands we make on others!  We live in an age of personal rights and what we consider a “need”.  If life and experience have taught me one thing, it would be that my “needs” are minimal and my wants are unreasonably extravagant!

 C. S Lewis said, “When I am in the presence of God, it seems profoundly unbecoming to demand anything!”  We just celebrated Christ’s surrendering HIS will completely and HIS victory over death…our promise of resurrection. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; YET not my will, but yours be done.”  Luke 22: 42  In anguish our Savior cried out on the Mount of Olives, as HE faced death in our place!” 

 How often in our choices, preferences and demands do we stop and consider HIS will first?  Do we seek the author and finisher of our faith in the midst of our decision-making process? Do we take thought to get into HIS presence and acknowledge that the God of the universe has a will to be considered?  Can you hear His voice when HE whispers HIS will to you?

 Have you ever put your will in “neutral”; having no preference or will of its own in regard to making a decision?   Our battle ceases when we acknowledge HIS sovereignty and accept HIS perfect will for us.  HE’S got the plan and it is for our good…we are blessed if we find which way God is moving and get in harmony with HIM.

 The history of all the great characters of the Bible is summed up in this one sentence:

 They acquainted themselves with God, and acquiesced HIS will in all things.” Richard Cecil 

 Have a great week…

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey "Faith Stroll?"

My granddaughter, Alexandra Grace, gave me the “Faith not Sight” and with its message comes, a promise of a walk unlike no other. It is in my kitchen and the daily reminder of a march of faith…like Abraham of old, “He went out, not knowing where he was going!”  When we left the United States and headed for the mission field , we had no idea where we were going.  We only knew that God had moved in our hearts to be His hands and feet to reach an unreached tribe in the jungles of Panama. With two little girls we, by  faith, found ourselves separated from family, friends and civilization.

 Faith became a series of “realizations “of  unknowns…and me, learning to see Him only…not my circumstance.  I got in the habit of asking myself…was God in control, or was I in His way? My    faith was becoming a daily stroll, rooted in his taking the lead and me learning to follow, without resistance, rationalization or excuse!  “Faith never knows where it is being led,  but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. It is a life of knowing Who makes us ‘go’”. Oswald Chambers

 Whether your faith journey is a health issue,  finances, a job loss, relationship divisions, or like me, a loss of a loved one,  the root of faith is the knowledge of a Person and his divine purpose in all that is going on around us.  For me the Person is my focus and the attainment of useful character for the benefit of His glory is the goal.  Will I be more profitable for the cross?

 “The life of faith is not a mounting up with wings, but a life of not fainting.” Oswald Chambers From  my early Christian life my faith has been tried and proved and because of His faithfulness…has stood the test.  Like Abraham…I believe God.  He’s got the plan.  My job…keep in harmony with Him!

 Have a great “faith walk” this week…

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey "A Divided Heart"

Sometimes, don’t you just wish you knew the future?  Just a little heads-up?  Life is so full of obstacles, decisions, and the unexpected, it would be nice to know a little ahead!  Shortly before God called my husband home, he texted me Psalm 86:11 with the note…”Prayer for our family this week”.  This was the verse…“Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart that I will fear your name (the beginning of wisdom).  I will praise you, Lord, my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.  For great is your love toward me; You have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.”

 In a way, this was prophetic.

He left this earth for his heavenly home the following week!

Ralph had given me the verses I needed to begin to journey on… before he left!

 An undivided heart is one that uses difficult and impossible times to demonstrate our commitment to God and those HE has called us to serve.  This is called LOYALTY. Loyalty is the bonding of individuals in a long-term commitment of sacrificial support and defense. Infidelity or unfaithfulness is total betrayal to God and our designed purpose.

 Each of us has loyalties to certain people or things.  We are all loyal to something!  We are loyal to things on earth(family, friends, money, job…) or we are loyal to things in heaven (rewards, abstaining from sin, godly relationships, walking in holiness, faithful in our witness and service). Loyalty is one thing a leader cannot do without.

 All day long we are making decisions that tell us where our loyalty lies and to whom!  It reveals what our mind is focused on.  We are to make our decisions based on two things:

1 – Am I loyal to the authority responsible for me?

2 – Am I standing with those I am serving in their time of need and making them first, more successful than myself?

 I guess the question is: 

Do we doubt God’s sovereignty during adversity

or do we draw nearer to HIM?

Hence, my prayer for us this week…

“Relying on HIS faithfulness, give us an undivided heart”…

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.