I sat in my tent, (which was only pitched for privacy inside a cramped room of 8 women) frozen. Than came another pop and another. Yep, those were defiantly gun shots in the distance. Lord, protect these people.
This past month was my first month as a team leader with a new team. We were assigned to work with Youth for Christ in Talucigapa, Honduras. After our first week of pretty light ministry, I was just told by our host that we’d be doing some spontaneous evangelism at the city dump and at high schools. In my broken Spanish, I was trying to explain that we needed time to plan for this “spontaneous” event, but to no avail.
Slightly stressed about this, my team promptly reminded me that we prayed at the beginning of the month that God would teach us to be more spirit led. Well here it was. God answered our prayer and served it up on a silver platter. I was processing through this and asking God to help me through this when I heard the gun shots echoing in the distance.
Instantly, I was reminded of why we were here and what was truly important.
I prayed for the people here. For the kids that we work with, who we laugh and play with, but who know that the red hand prints on the wall down the road are not paint, they are indeed blood. I was reminded of a beautiful nine year old boy who plays soccer with us who used to be on drugs. The teenagers who roll through on Saturdays after soccer tournaments to watch us do light hearted dramas and talk about Jesus most of whom are wrapped up in one of the largest gangs in Central America.
There I was worrying about my team being over worked and over stressed when there are people out there who are fearing for their lives everyday. People who don’t know if they are going to catch a stray bullet, or a direct one for that matter. Children who get persuaded to do drugs and then get roped into transporting and selling them so the adults don’t have to do the dirty work. Mothers not knowing if they will see their children again when they leave the house.
How selfish could I be worrying about my time and stress levels. It is a privilege that we get to be here, our hearts breaking for these people. It is a privilege that we get to tell these beautiful people who somehow always have a smile on their faces , despite their circumstance that Jesus has more to offer them than this world does. That He wants them to know Him deeply. That he has given everything for them and they He can change their lives; that He can get them out of the darkness and show them how to walk in the light.
It is our privilege to be here. It is our privilege to love and minister to these people until we are exhausted. It is our privilege to share with them all we have even if that means we have to go with less. It is our privilege to have our hearts broken as many times as it takes for us to stop thinking about ourselves and let the Holy Spirit move us into action.
