I think he changed my life.
As Christin, Jason and I were wandering the neighborhood – we met Armondo and his wife.
Armondo, in a wheelchair and his wife beside him. Armondo actually knew a bit of English which was incredibly refreshing amidst the great language barrier that exists between us and the Nicaraguans.
My broken Spanish is not enough to really get to know someone.
The three of us prayed for Armondo and invited him and his wife, Margarita, to join us at church that night.
Jason and I went back to his home to help him get to church. Though it was a short walk from his home to the church, we needed a taxi.
Armondo was too weak for anything but a taxi.
The neighborhood is not on a main road. So we knew a taxi would be hard to come by. Jason immediately began praying for a taxi.
As we turned the corner a taxi turned into our path.
Not only did God provide a taxi, but our friend Darwing was riding in the taxi.
We instantly got Armondo and his wife in the taxi.
It was truly miraculous to get Armondo and Margarita to church.
With his eyes closed, Armondo sat through the entire church service. It was clear he was in a lot of pain and his wife was worn from her service to her husband.
It was after Armondo asked for a cold glass of water, that I realized that I wasn’t just serving him, but I was actually serving Jesus.
My heart broke for this man as I desperately desired for the pain he was feeling to flee.
The brokenness of this world is so evident.
It is evident through the eyes of Armondo and Margarita.
And this is what this journey is about – experiencing brokenness as Jesus would experience it.
It is about being broken by a man in a wheelchair.
It is being broken by watching an incredible woman serve her husband with little complaint.
It is in these things that we see the brokenness of this world collide with the Kingdom of God.
Brokenness and the Kingdom of God.
Colliding.
The Kingdom of God is at hand and it is colliding with this earth as a crippled man goes to church for the first time in years.
It’s colliding when a cup of cold water is given.
It is in experiencing this that Jesus is making me a little more like Himself.
Even if it hurts in the process.
Even though the process is painful, it is people like Armondo that make me want to keep going.
I want to keep bringing hope to the hopeless with the hope that Jesus first gave me.
