A dirty, old blue tarp spread out in the sun. On it, lay rotting vegetables, table scraps, and already eaten food. The kind of things you might find near the dishwashing area of a restaurant, only not an American restaurant where we throw out plates full of perfectly good food. A poor persons restaurant where even the chicken bones are picked clean. It looked like the makings of a compost pile, dirt and all. Instead, it was lunch.
Obsession, thoughts racing constantly, distraction, inability to think of anything else, consuming pursuit, chasing after a thing at the expense of all else.
This is the mind of the people working in the garbage dump. They are obsessed with the pursuit of food. They spend all day rummaging through bags of trash scraping out discarded food, and collecting plastic, glass, or metals, anything with value. The idea of missing out on a new load of trash is overwhelming, and so even when they have gone through every bag, they sit close by, watching for the next truck. In the evenings, when no trucks are rolling in, and it is too dark to search, their minds still race. This is the greatest obstacle to the gospel for the people living in the dump. Even as you talk with them, you can see their minds racing in a place far off from where they stand, racing through the piles, wondering what will come in next, hoping there will be something to feed their children. Their greatest prayer request is for illness. Disease runs rampant here. The pastor says the greatest need is for vitamins. He is praying that somehow God can provide vitamins for the children who live here.
Today, we arrived ‘between loads’. They were standing around waiting for the next load to arrive, and by the provision of the Lord, it did not arrive until we had finished our Bible Study. I shared out of Romans 6 about being Slaves to Righteousness and how we all are serving a master. We get to choose if we want to serve the master of ourselves, or sin, or another person…..these masters all lead to death. But we can choose instead to serve God! Through Jesus, we can enter into eternal life! When it came time to pray, one woman asked for something much different than the others (daily needs, and health)…. She asked that we pray so they can have control over their ‘devices’ (sin). Despite their racing minds, and eyes that checked frantically for another truck to come in, still the Holy Spirit delivered the message to her heart!
Please pray with me that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in their hearts and lives and turn their obsession to Him! Pray that He would show them about living water from heaven in which they will never thirst again. Pray that they would ‘eat the scroll’ of the Word of God and be satisfied in ways they have never known before. Pray for more divine opportunities over the next 2 weeks for us to minister to them, and for Jesus to captivate their hearts and minds.
