9/19/14 I am sitting in the “Love You So Hall” in Manila. The rain has not stopped since last night and it is supposed to go on for a few more days. The streets are flooded therefore we can not do ministry. It is nice to have a day to rest, but also hard. It gives you all day to sit and think about home, friends, family, the people here, how to spend your time, and mostly what God has been teaching me. I am a people watcher, and as I walk the streets of Manila looking at the now more familiar faces I begin to think how everyone has a story, and everyones is different. Everyone has had something hard or even tragic happen in their lives making them into who they are. But the thing that hits me the hardest is God knew all of that before the beginning of time. He knew that sweet Janelle’s father would be killed in a car accident when she was only ten. He knew that all of the children in the orphanage here would be abandoned by what they once called their families. He knew everything about me, and you, before the beginning of time. Everything that happens is in His great plan. How can we not give him praise? What makes us so caught up in ourselves that we can’t reach out and defend the poor and fatherless. How can we get out of the mindset that it is not about us? It is about what we can do to further the kingdom. Our hearts should be breaking for the people in this world, and not only in third world countries, but in America as well. We should fight for those who’ve fallen until hope rises. We should be desperate for The Lord and desperate to be in his presence. Today, step into the unknown, jump out of your comfort zone, meet someone new and get to know them because you genuinely care. Don’t let today be a day wasted.
