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Hello friends!  This is Eli (see the last couple blog posts below).  I am a friend of Vanessa’s and I will be guest-hosting this episode of her blog.  🙂




Tonight, she is somewhere inside the 48 hour mark of leaving the country for 11 months, and you can probably imagine how much she has going on right now.  I know she would love to be writing you herself, but instead she’s chosen to spend this time alone with the Lord.


 

If you have been keeping up with her blog, you will see that Vanessa has a gift for seeing things in the natural world and relating them to spiritual truth.  I want to share with you one of my favorite lessons I learned from one of her observations.


 

One day she and I went for a run in Managua, Nicaragua.  If you haven’t been to Managua, it is a VERY dirty city.  Garbage everywhere.  Hence the telling saying we have here:

“Welcome to Managua!!!”……
“What’s that smell?”  🙂


…so as we were running we passed a park with basketball court, benches, trees; much like any other small neighborhood park you would see anywhere.  Except it was full of trash.  Intentionally dumped or blown in by the wind, garbage was everywhere. 


 Amidst the garbage was an empty black trash bag.  Vanessa said, “Look, the bag was supposed to be part of the solution, but now it has become part of the problem.”


Let that sink in a minute.



The world is full of problems.  Vanessa and her team are going to face many of them.  What is the solution? 



Jesus.



How do we apply the solution?



We give the problems to Jesus.  Now don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying that Jesus is a garbage bag. 🙂 


Jesus puts on our hearts, through the Holy Spirit, ways to show His love to the people He loves.  But what happens when we become so focused on what we are doing for Him, that we forget who He is to us?  He loves us, he loves everyone, and he has chosen us to be His hands and feet in the world. 

 

We, and our ministries, are the garbage bags.  When we stop putting our focus on Him and worshipping Him as He is and instead focus on our methods or ministry obligations….our good works become as filthy rags.  Idols.  Blocking our view of the abundant life He has for us. The garbage bag becomes part of the garbage when we start doing in place of worshipping and becoming more intimate with our Lord and Savior. 


The “garbage bag” can still be part of the solution if used properly, and the one who wields it remains focused on the Savior, rather than supposed obligations to men.  It is He that we serve, and we serve men in His name.  Only by knowing Him more, and becoming more like Him, can we truly show our fellow man His love.


John 13
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.�



So pray for Vanessa tonight and in the next couple days as she and her team prepare to head out on this amazing journey. Pray for all of the team to remain focused on their reason for going out, more than on the works they will do in His name.



3 John
5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.