PreacherMike

“U.S. and Brazil Fingerprinting: Is It Getting Out of Hand?” This was the headline on p. 3 of this mornings NY Times.

I left Rio last night around midnight and arrived here (through Miami and DFW) around noon today.

The headline describes the bizarre situation we met when we arrived in Rio a week ago. Here’s what the article says:

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 9 — With Brazil and the United States holding fast to their insistence on photographing and fingerprinting visitors from the other country, what began as a minor dispute last week is now threatening to sour relations between the two countries, the most populous in the Western Hemisphere.

The dispute grew out of a security program the United States began this week, which applies to all foreigners entering the country who are required to have visas. Comparing the American action to “the worst horrors committed by the Nazis,” a judge in a remote interior state ordered that all Americans arriving in Brazil be subjected to the same treatment.

It is a classic case of “the law of retaliation.” Since the US is now requiring foreigners who enter the country to be electronically finger-printed and photographed (a process that takes about 30 seconds), Brazil has reciprocated. Except they’re focusing just on US citizens as payback.

When we got to Rio, a customs officer was telling everyone to proceed through except for US citizens. We had to wait single file while they went to get the terminals ONE guy who could do the fingerprints and take a photo.

We were told that the last plane took 3 hours to get through. A couple days before (when they first began) some apparently waited up to 9 hours.

The fingerprint guy had equipment that looked like a kid’s 007 spy kit.

It was funny hearing them say that ONLY United States citizens had to go through this. “Jordan? Come on in. Iraq? Enter. Libya? Pass on through. United States? Nope, sorry, we need your fingerprints and your photo.”

On the other hand . . . everything else was wonderful. More about the missions conference and the wonderful missions teams from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay later.

Glad to be back!

This afternoon I’m off for Rio de Janeiro for the Brazilian missions conference, where I’ll be speaking 11 times.

Last night we attended a wedding at the Chapel on the Hill. The young bride and groom are going — guess where? — to Rio today.

Isn’t that just what you want for your honeymoon? To fly from Abilene to Dallas to Miami to Rio — with your preacher?

To follow up on yesterday . . . .

Over Christmas, I got to know Maggie. I’d heard a lot about Maggie, but we hadn’t met.

Maggie is my brother’s family’s pygmy goat. (Is that politically correct? Maggie is a vertically-challenged goat.) Stands about knee high.

Truman is the family dog. From his fenced in back yard, he is a highly-caffeinated protector of the family’s house. And to Truman the greatest potential threat to the house is Maggie, as the goat wanders outside the fence on the six acres. All day long Truman is on Code Red, standing at attention staring at the goat. If Maggie moves, Truman runs up and down the fence. Who knows what potential terrors lurk in the mind of that goat?

When I say “all day long,” I mean EVERY WAKING MOMENT. There is no rest for the weary. Truman has to guard against possible invasion from the pygmy. The fact that the goat has been there a LONG time matters little. Truman seems to believe it’s a devilish plan to lure the family into a sense of trust. And then the demon-goat will strike!

So he stands alert, staring and barking. All day. Every day.

I’ll think of Truman now when I read Philippians 3: “This one thing I do.”

Or when I see City Slickers for the 20th time and hear Jack Palance say to Billy Crystal: “The secret of life is one thing.”

What’s your one thing for this year?