Have you ever had a game plan for what your day will look like? Maybe that plan includes where you will go, who you will spend it with, What you may do with that person? Well being on this trip we kind of have one each day. We live by a weekly schedule (i say that extremely loosely because it’s usually not at all what we’re told). We are partnered with a ministry and they typically have a rough game plan of where we will go, who we will visit and what we will do with them. And typically I could say thats what my “lenses” are focused on. But what inspired me to write this was the last two situations I had. I unfocused my lens on what I was told is “my ministry” and two boys caught my attention that technically weren’t “my ministry”. God highlighted them to me, showed me that Ministry isn’t always planned nor should it be. Ministry most of the time looks like the people God places in our life and highlights in our hearts for us to love on. Whether they are part of the program or not.
Boy #1- My friend across the Fence.
While in Guatemala some of our parents came out to visit us and do ministry with us for a few days. One of the days we were asked to visit the village school to perform a VBS(Vacation Bible School). We arrived at this small school in the middle of the mountains to play, sing, dance, perform skits, and just simply love on the kids. After we did a few songs and tickle wars it was time for the kids to eat lunch. Now there was probably 100 kids at this school, and between us and our parents there was probably 18 of us. I looked around and saw everyone spread out sitting in circles eating lunch with the kids. But as I glanced across the pavement I saw a boy sitting by the fence, the outside of the fence. I waved at him to come grab lunch. I assumed he went to the school but was just wandering around the road because honestly it’s not that uncommon for the kids to leave the property during free time. But he responded with a look of fear and pure confusion as if he had never been on the property before. It then hit me that not only does he not go here but he also isn’t allowed to. Also not that uncommon for certain kids to not be allowed to go to school for various different reasons. I walked over and attempted to spark a conversation in my very broken Spanish that he just thought was funny because it probably made no sense. Some of the other boys who went to the school came over and yelled something at him in Spanish and pointed for him to go away..(often because only certain kids are allowed at school they view the other kids as unworthy, or less then them.) He looked at me thinking I would agree with them, but instead was greeted with a smile and a “Un momento”. I remembered we brought coloring pages and crayons. I grabbed some stuff and walked outside the property, sat down in the road and began to color with him. As we sat there and shared colors and awkward giggles he told me his name, age, and favorite color. (Basically the only things I know how to ask.) But we began to form a basically non verbal friendship. I shared my lunch with him. And he shared his unique smile with me. It was what happened next that made my day. The same boys that just told him he isn’t welcome here came outside the fence too. I was a little worried until I saw them sit next to him and begin to color also. Within seconds they were giggling together and speaking about who knows what, but it was friendly. And what i realized was maybe my ministry plan was to come here today, but there’s such a bigger picture then just performing our scheduled VBS. This boy wasn’t part of the plan, being an example to the other boys of how Jesus doesn’t judge or pick and choose wasn’t part of the plan, Forming new friendships wasn’t part of the plan. But when we step outside the small box of “planned ministry” God will open up doors every turn. Maybe It’s right outside the fence looking in, waiting to catch someone’s attention.
Boy #2- He’s here because of HIV.
Just a few days ago we arrived in El Salvador. We were on our first day of ministry. We were told today we were going to visit two centers for mentally disabled orphans. We were just asked to go and play with them, and show them love. I tell myself okay this is pretty straight forward. The first center was for adults and the second center was for children under the age of 18. This story happened in the children’s home. We arrived and are instantly greeted with extremely large smiles and heart warming hugs. We got to the area that we would be gathering all the kids. And some of them had no problem coming up to us and joining our dance party. But I noticed one boy around 14 in the corner who looked like he had zero interest in anything happening, There was something else too. To be honest, he didn’t look like he belonged there. I didn’t think much of it, walked towards him and asked if i could join him shooting his bow and arrow (those ones that stick to the wall.) He kinda just shrugged and let me join. We played for a little while and then I asked him to come join everyone else. He was still not interested and just kinda walked away.. I went to join the dance party. I soon was poked on the shoulder to turn around and see my bow and arrow buddy, he brought a translator over and she told me he wants to play with you. I said okay, this is who you want me to spend time with today God, you got it. Within 5 minutes his reserved attitude turned into laughs and smiles as we chased each other around the room playing war. This lasted at least an hour. My teammate Christa even joined us with a couple of the other kids also. It was just about halfway through that she came up to me with information about the boy that all of a sudden brought so much clarity. She came up and said “The host just told me he never acts like this, very rarely will he play or join in games, he is usually very angry and doesn’t speak to anyone. He is here because he is HIV positive, not because he has a mental disability. Just thought you would like to know that.” All of a sudden I felt like in a very small way I understood this boy. (See in a lot of these countries they place children with things like HIV in homes like this because they view them as “different”) But honestly he probably doesn’t want to be treated like the other kids. He is 14 and he wants to play war. He wasn’t looking to dance to little kids songs. He wasn’t looking for a hug, at least not yet.. He wanted to just have fun and play. And if I had to guess I would say he probably feels pretty lonely there. So our ministry was to come and love on the children with disabilities, he didn’t fall into that category though. Maybe today what ministry for me was to just be a friend, to be someone this boy could relate to in some way, to be someone who wasn’t going to put him in the same box as those around him. I didn’t think I would meet or spend the afternoon with a boy like this when I heard our days plan. But God knew he was waiting for me. And if I only had my eyes fixed on the children who had disabilities he may had gone another day by himself, feeling unseen, just wishing to be himself.
So I guess what I took from both of these scenarios was two somewhat different yet both relatable themes. The First boy wasn’t part of the group we were sent to love on, yet he deserved love. He was physically sitting right outside of our “ministry” just waiting for his turn to be apart of something. The second boy was part of the group, yet he was emotionally on the outside. He wanted to be loved on, yet he was tired of being put in the same bubble as everyone else. See both of these boys to me where waiting to be loved on. But in their own way. Yet neither of them were going to call someone over to them. Sometimes it’s easy for us, at least i can speak for myself, to love on people in group settings. Sometimes I can find myself only focusing on those groups. Yet how many people do we miss who are sitting right on the outside of that group. How many people are waiting right in our blind spots to be loved on? I can sadly say there’s probably plenty of people that I missed this year. But these last two weeks made me realize sometimes you need to look a little further than the box you put ministry in. God is so much bigger than a box, which means his work can not be contained by one. I guess my challenge for myself and you is to throw the box away. Throw away the idea of a “Ministry demographic”. Throw away the mindset of what ministry will look like. It has no shape, no organized plans, no step by step schedule. It’s life, and life is messy, confusing, unorganized, full of surprises, yet life is waiting each day for us to embrace it. It won’t always call out to you, it won’t always wave it’s arms and ask for attention. Yet when we go out of our way to seize the opportunities it offers, it also won’t ever let us down. I don’t think God’s plans involved a box, I think it’s just easier for us to organize life into them. But life isn’t a attic we’re trying to clean up. So we shouldn’t treat it like one.
