August 2026 Conchshell Chronicles
The Conchshell Chronicles is the journal of Seek The Lamb and the Rio Coco Cafe ministry.
August on Utila
With our cat Gringa
Lamb Bleatings
Ask, Seek & Knock
All personal relationship are developed through time spent, hearts expressed, love and attention given and received. We ask questions and seek out knowing others better. We knock on the door of those we want to see and spend time with.
Deep satisfaction is found in genuine relationships. It is the greatest asset we can possess this side of heaven.
We love because we were first loved by a Creator God that designed us and promised to be with us forever. He made a plan of eternal relationship and executed upon this earth with precision, accuracy, and detail that is unraveled …Jesus Christ sacrificed His sinless life for ours and all who believe in Him shall have eternal life. It begins by us asking Him to come into our hearts, seeking him throughout our moments of every day, and constantly knocking on His door of redemption, wisdom and guidance.
This world is full of confusion, distractions and evil that only ONE PERFECT HERO WILL CONQUER. One day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Our need for One that is all knowing, all powerful and all loving is an eternal asset that no human should live without.
Right now we are on Utila working with our mission team. We have a good team now and The Kendall Family is coming from England.
We are personally asking God to send us help financially for the many projects and people He has assigned us to. Would you pray and ask God regarding giving at this time? We appreciate any gift large or small. The funds will be used for missionary support (we do not receive a salary from the café ministry or from Seek the Lamb), panels for solar system in Utila, Bible training, outreaches etc…Summer has been slow for the café ministry and it has been difficult covering all the expenses.
Please pray for provision this month. Here is the link to our giving page.
We are seeking more team mates for Utila and also for Vero Beach. We also need more missionaries to be able to serve in September- November on Utila. Please pray that we can get new Rio Coco Coffee Club subscribers our coffee….in homes, offices, and telling any of your friends…all of our collective efforts and prayers help.
A huge MAHALO to all of you who sent YOUR LIGHTLY USED ALOHA ATTIRE TO HELP US raise funds for our RIO ALOHA 100% HUMANIC. If you know of anyone cleaning out their closets in Hawaii, we welcome all to participate with us and send directly to
RIO ALOHA, 450 39th Court, Vero Beach, FL 32968.
Thank you for being a part of God’s great plans as you ask, seek, knock and find what he wants for you & how you will get there. God has all that we need with every answer to fulfill every question great and small. Laura
Jesus Most Famous Teaching
The Sermon on the Mount
When we face the challenges of life, where do we go for answers? I have been exploring this question for four decades and recently I have camped out at a site where much is given in a very short time.
Would you join me for a few moments?
Many of us glean our wisdom from our culture, social media along with what ‘feels right’ for us. We live our lives this way until something extraordinary happens: We have an experience with God and suddenly everything changes. Now, God becomes our source for how we are to do life.
Jesus knew that many of us would be needing guidance in our walk with Him as well as in this world, so he gave his most famous teaching on a hillside on the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. We call it the ‘Sermon on the Mount.’ Matthew records this teaching, and let’s imagine ourselves in the crowd with many Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Essenes, Herodians, tax collectors, fishermen, farmers, shepherds, and assorted Greeks and Romans. What did they hear Jesus say. If we tune our ears to their culture and language, we discover that Jesus is giving us the basics on what Discipleship looks like according to Him.
Jesus begins by describing the conditions necessary for true discipleship: become poor in spirit- realizing our desperate need for God in our lives, and mourning the affects of sin on us and those around us. At some point in the process, we get angry at sin and decide to do things God’s way, hungering and thirsting for His righteousness. We look around at others and no longer judge them, since they are in the same boat as us and thus display mercy. As this process is happening, we are becoming pure in heart, being transformed into God’s character. Finally, we take the peace we have with God and naturally begin extending it to others.
Now what do we become to those around us? ‘Salt and Light’ He says: Loyal, unoffendable, friendly people who are serving those around us with random acts of kindness. We let our good deeds shine God’s light in our communities.
Mikaela collecting salt rocks at the Dead Sea
Judas knocking over the salt bowl at the "Last Supper". There is no more loyalty between him and Jesus.
What do disciples do with the Bible? Jesus says that the ‘Entire’ Bible should be read, studied and emulated by us Followers of Jesus because God’s morality, wisdom and recommended way of life is taught and modeled in the Hebrew Scriptures. His listeners understood this as they wrote the Christian Scriptures, which reflect the teachings of the Old Testament.
He then gives six examples of how the Hebrew Scriptures have been twisted by the religious crowd and what is actually being said:
Don’t murder others physically or with your words;
Committing adultery with your thoughts is just as harmful as with your hands and eyes;
Divorce is only allowed for infidelity, not burning your toast, as some rabbis said.
Deceptive oaths are dishonest, so just say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
Disregard slaps on the cheek, which are insults, and let God take revenge for you.
Give to your enemies, as it may be that the only way they encounter God is through your kindness.
In all your attitudes and actions, grow up, become fully mature in God’s ways.
Jesus says that we will often see someone in need and when God tells us to help, we are to do it privately without calculating our bank account or tithing. If we do so our reward will be great.
Sunrise over the Sea of Galilee
Communication with God is vital and should be mostly private.
Our conversations with Him should reflect our Father-Son/Daughter relationship and His ‘holiness’, that we are communicating with a being who is high and far above us in character and love.
We are to give Him permission to direct our day, interrupting our agenda with His. To accomplish His will often requires ‘supernatural subsistence’, and we should ask Him for this daily.
Taking a daily inventory of our relationships is important, asking forgiveness from God for our offenses, and giving forgiveness to others.
Jesus then says that fasting should be part of our spiritual disciplines, as it takes our focus off our material needs and places it on God and His provision.
This is true when it comes to our material possessions. God is the giver of all that we really need and the pursuit of wealth often make us anxious for tomorrow. If we follow God and emulate His ways, utilizing our resources for His purposes, He will provide all the food, clothing, housing and other necessities of this life. Worrying about tomorrow is useless and brings harm to our day.
Mt Arbel in the distance from Mount of Beatitudes
Jesus says it is natural to help others remove ‘specs’ from their eyes while we ignore the ‘logs’ in our own. Yes, we all have issues and trigger points! God wants to guide us as we address them, and be careful in giving unsolicited advice to others. It’s His wisdom and power we should continually be asking for, and as we do, He will provide. So have the compassion and empathy for others that we desire as we help them work out their own issues.
Randy Smith teach at the Mount of Beatitudes, October 2000
Finally Jesus closes this teaching with three contrasting images:
A narrow gate and a broad path;
A good tree and a bad tree; and
A house built on a rock and a house built on sand.
We can walk out this life on a broad worldly boulevard or a narrow Godly path. Jesus is the gate that we enter into true life. He is the ‘Door’ to the sheep fold, ‘The Way, the Truth and The Life.’ Proverbs and many Epistles describe this path and advise us how to walk it out.
Along the way we will meet ‘spiritual’ people who claim to speak God’s words, and do His work, but their personal lives will not reflect true spirituality but rather doing things for their own benefit. Jesus says that there will be many that call Him ‘Lord’ and claim to do mighty things for Him, but have no personal relationship with Him. “I never knew you.” He will tell them at the end.
If we apply all these teachings that Jesus is giving on the Mount of Beatitudes, we will be building our lives on a solid foundation, not on the unstable sand that the philosophy of the world offers us.
This is a very concise summary of these three chapters of one of the most significant teachings in human history. I have been reading, mediating and teaching on this for the past three months in Vero Beach as well as on Maui. I think I am a better friend, husband, father, and missionary as a result. It’s rather comical that as I have been teaching these principles, God has shown me where I precisely need to apply them in my own life! Perhaps He will do that for you.
If you would like to read through my expanded study on the Sermon on the Mount, its available on our seekthelamb.com site under our Biblical Studies page, Biblical Places Spiritual Spaces, Mount of Beatitudes page complete with many of the photos we have of this Biblical site.
The Mount of Beatitudes on seekthelamb.com
I have had extended conversations with my friend Rhett Palmer on our “Cup of Friendship’ podcast, which is available on Spotify and YouTube.
On YouTube:
Please join our discussion when you have a moment of driving, or contemplation.
Rio Coco Beans Coffee
Rio Coco Beans Coffee Club
We are offering our high altitude hand picked specialty coffee at 15% off when your join our Coffee Club. Simply place an order clicking on the Coffee Club price, and you will begin your subscription with will automatically renew that order at the interval that you choose (1 month, 2 month, etc) .
You may change or cancel your order at any time!
Rio Coco Beans Coffee Webstore
The commodity market for coffee is has been at record hights in this past year forcing us to raise our prices accordingly. Our Coffee Club offers discounts by purchasing quantity regularily, which helps us lower the individual bag costs.
If you own a restaurant or coffee truck, we offer wholesale prices and will ship monthly or deliver locally. Please contact Mikaela at riococobeans@gmail.com.
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