Fizzy-pop confessions

Love people. Pure, simple, and fairly straightforward, right? And not with the fickle, self-serving kind of love that dominates the culture, but with Agape love, the love above all loves. The one whose source emanates from God, and which, without makes loving others corruptible and so very difficult. I would say that for me 99% of my “ loving others” is not a holy nor virtuous act. People are messy, I’m messy. But God is so gracious; He can work with my 1% and faithfully walk me down the path to more and more surrendering.

So where am I going with this? I want to pull back the curtain on these blog posts a bit to show you all the daily machinery of the Nest. The human machinery. The people whom God has specifically chosen to participate with us in this great plan, in his little corner of mountain jungle.

Y’all might have read most of my previous posts and conjured up images of Karina & I, just the two of us out here swinging from a vine like Tarzan & Jane. ( we actually have a picture of that!)

But the genuinely beautiful truth is that we have been adopted by a wonderful group of Bribris who comprise the Nest team.

Carpenters, gardeners, youth and children workers, animal and grounds keepers, cooks, and cleaners, all of them function in their specific roles to create the little village and community we call the Nest.

So on that note I’m going to introduce you to a new series here on the Nest blog, which we’ll call the Fizzy-Pop confessions. I will be interviewing different workers each week/month, presenting them with their favorite fizzy beverage and asking them 3 selected questions.

1. What’s your story of coming to the Nest ?

2. Reflect on what it means to you to be playing a vital role for a mission of God here at the Nest?

3. From your perspective, as it is today and into the future, how would you describe the role of the Nest inside the BriBri territory?

So without further ado, allow me the greatest pleasure to present to you our friend Jeiner.

Jeiner is a 21-year-old man who is the backbone of our operational tasks at the Nest. Skilled with chainsaws and machetes, yet tender and caring with our sheep and goats, this man is the very definition of conscientious and hard working. He lives and works at the Nest from Monday-Thursday and he’s the one who does what needs done whatever that may be.

So Jeiner came to work at the Nest through a work-grant project which saw us hire 15 temporary workers to clear the land and build the barn which would later become the now infamous Chicken City. We noticed very quickly that Jeiner was special, and so when the grant contract ended, we immediately hired him to stay on.

When I asked Jeiner about how he sees his role in terms of serving in the Nest ministry, he gave me an interesting and unexpected answer.

“ What is the mission of the nest? I believe it is to be a home for children to protect them but most of all to protect the girls (LONG PAUSE)

The mission is yes of learning, besides my work I have learned many things new things, it’s a beautiful place, how to work , about work and other things, and for me it’s a joy to be working here."

The final question in my short interview related to how he perceives the Nest ministry within the larger context of the BriBri territory and nation.

“Like I said it’s a beautiful place, as far as I know it’s the only place in the territory where children come every week to have fun and for me that’s very good. I pray to God that the nest will continue growing every day more and more”

So those are the direct transcription of his answers to our Q&A, I won’t expound on them, letting them be what they are.

On a final note, when our conversation was over, I noticed that he hadn’t touched the frosty bottle of Fanta orange soda which he had chosen as his favorite Fizzy-Pop. He said “ oh! I’m saving this for later when I’m all done with my work, and I can really enjoy it “

There’s something deeply significant in Jeiner, and it’s our solemn joy at the Nest to partner with God to bring that wonderful quality to bear much fruit. As Karina and I with tearful prayer, consider that Jeiner never had a “Nest” growing up. Childhood here in the jungle is very difficult and hard. In many ways, God is redeeming this young man, and finally giving him the Nest he never had as a little kid. To God be the glory.

With love and gratitude

James Beach