Something interesting has happened to our squad this month. We are all living together in a 3-story mansion of sorts. We have running water, hot showers, real toilets that we can flush toilet paper down, beds to sleep in, delicious food to eat, and lovely women that cook and clean for us with smiles on their faces. It is very rare for an entire squad to be together in the same location doing ministry together more than once on the race. This is our second month to be blessed with this opportunity. The best part about it all is that we are being pored into spiritually as well. We have two bible studies a day: one on the book of Matthew, and one on the book of Proverbs. To say that The Lord is blessing us this month is a complete understatement. We are growing spiritually and relationally, both as individuals and as a community.
This is the awesome house we are staying in!
So you may be reading this blog wondering, “why is the title God is in the rubbish? It sounds like God has provided them with great living conditions and the opportunity to grow closer to Him and each other.” This is all very true, and I needed to let you all know how thankful I am for these provisions this month. The title of my blog though comes from a very important lesson I learned during our ministry.
We are working at a children’s summer camp and we are helping to prepare the grounds for the kids before they arrive in a few months. This involves a wide array of physical labor including moving rocks, painting, working with livestock such as sheep and pigs, trimming bushes, and shoveling manure. We spend all day doing hard, dirty work. My job for a few days of the week was burning the “rubbish” that was produced by all of or hard work and some other trash that was accumulated on the yard. Although I thoroughly enjoy fire, I have not been trained in starting them, or in keeping them going. I wasn’t even sure why I was chosen for this job, but it was an adventure and God ended up showing me something amazing.
Here I am burning trash (rubbish is what we call it here) and God showed up in the moment to teach me some things. I noticed very quickly that the trees, which were green and seemingly full of life, were very difficult to get rid of. But the things that were dry, dead, used up and dull, created big, consuming flames. I realized that we are a lot like the green trees sometimes. We think we have it all together and we assume that we are full of God’s life. But when we think like this, the Lord can’t use us as easily. We should strive to be more like the plants that seem to be dry and brown, because then we are at the mercy of God’s all consuming fire, and we act as kindling to the world. Proverbs tells us, “blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for they will inherit the earth.” When we are humbled and poor in spirit before the Lord, He can then use us to spread the fire of his love. This does not mean that we should be lifeless as Christians, only that we should be humbled before the Lord. Fires also need oxygen. We had to continually fan our flames to keep them going. If we neglected our fire, it would burn out. Our oxygen as Christians includes a multitude of things. Reading the bible, praying, and connecting with the Holy Spirit keep our flames burning strong.
God is in everything. He’s teaching us and revealing truths to us at every turn. Matthew 7:8-9 says, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” NLT.
Look for God. I found him in the rubbish.
