Honestly, there have been about six dozen times on the race that I wonder what the heck I’m doing here—“here” being any of the nine countries I’ve done ministry in over the last nine months. How many times can I struggle through an English lesson when I don’t speak the native language? How many times can I stand around acting engaged when my translator is really doing all the work building relationships? How many church services can I sit in on in one weekend?
One of the coolest things about God is that he always sees the big picture, and I believe he always eventually shows us that big picture as well. Sometimes it may come in little slivers, and sometimes he may not show us until we meet him at the gates of Heaven. He’s faithful and didn’t call anybody to do his work for it to come back fruitless.
Here in Chile, our main ministry was cancelled for a couple days due to rain (we saw the first drops of rain in a whole year, and the first snow in three years!). Once the clouds and cold cleared one Friday afternoon, we decided to make our own ministry. We headed to the city center where we hung out for a few hours, holding signs that offered english conversation (locals always want to practice!), prayer, and free haircuts courtesy of my incredibly talented teammate Toni. We talked to people, jammed out on the guitar (everything from Phil Wickham to Fall Out Boy), and found a bunch of folks looking for a new ‘do.
We definitely drew some attention—9 American girls, singing, dancing, laughing at our own poor attempts of speaking Spanish, and crawling around on the sidewalk with the stray dogs (that was me). It was a blast. Near the end of the afternoon an older-middle aged man named Aaron came up and asked us about the haircuts. When we told him they were free, he promptly took a seat and Toni started working her magic. We talked to him in broken Spanish, trying to understand each other. He had kind eyes made friendlier by crows’ feet, and asked for a military style haircut.
He stuck around for a while afterwards, making conversation with our host Marcos, and then asked for a photo with the group of us. Afterwards, Marcos told us what they had been talking about—Aaron had been walking through the park on his way to the bar, with the intention of getting blackout drunk on whiskey and wine to ease his hurting heart and temporarily take away his pain. Before he left to go back home, he simply stated “God had something else planned for me today.”
Whoa.
The next day he met us in the park again, this time bringing a friend to hear more about our church and Jesus. And it doesn’t end there—our host church loved what came of our park ministry, and they plan to incorporate it into their regular outreach program, bringing church members to that spot a couple times a week from here on out.
It all started because my team and I found ourselves bored on one Friday afternoon, and we were excited to see the sun shining for the first time in a couple days. We didn’t really know what we were doing—we just showed up and utilized some of the gifts that God has given us. It was nothing special. We didn’t preach a sermon or “force our religion” on anyone. Still, this is one of the times when the Lord has shown us why we’re here.
You see, this stretches far beyond a few hours at a park. Who knows who this church will reach as they continue this ministry? Sure, sometimes we feel useless when we do something once or twice, for just a few hours. But God can use that to create something BIGGER. To EXPAND. It’s not about us. It’s not about what we do, it’s about what God is doing. And a lot of times, we never see that side of it. Most often, we can only see the small mustard seeds we are planting, and we miss the way the Lord tills that soil and makes them grow.
If Marcos hadn’t been there to translate for us, we may have never known Aaron’s story. How many other stories like his have happened that we don’t have the privilege of knowing about this side of Heaven? Mission work, overseas or in the United States, isn’t always filled with miracles. It’s rare to see someone’s life changed before your eyes. And yet, it is never fruitless. God is always working behind the scenes. It has never been in our hands to make the miracles happen—we are merely the tools of an incredible gardener. Thank God for that.
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8:28
