HEY! just gonna keep this transparent (transparency is all i know:)
the thought of leaving Jaco makes me pretty sad. I knew I would love the beach and it’s little beachy town. But shooty DANG. God really went off with this place.
Back story
At training camp… 8 months ago God put an image in my head during worship of my feet in black dirt. My toes were painted yellow, typical, and I was looking down from where I was standing and it was just this brief image of me looking down at them.
When we got to Swaziland I assumed I would be surrounded by black dirt and thought I would see the image come to life then and know what significance it carried. But my toes weren’t painted and I wasn’t going to go out of my way to make the image be real. And the dirt wasn’t black! So I just forgot about it and decided I may never know what it was or maybe not for a long time ¯_(?)_/¯
side note – i’ve never seen black sand. didn’t know it was a thing till the Philippines haha
another side note- i smashed my big toe with a big metal thing last month and needless to say, she ain’t cute. So purely for that reason i painted my toes with my yellow nail polish almost as a chore. The polish has gotten goopy, I was in a hurry so I messed up a bunch. No part of me really wanted to paint my toes.
SO a few days ago i’m here. In Jaco. On the Beach absolutely thrilled about life and where i’m at, where i’m going. Feeding off of the energy from the waves, the people, the sun and I look. down. and looky there folks there it is. That image from 8 months ago of my yellow toes surrounded by black dirt, little did I know it was black sand, even better.
I looked around trying to grasp the significance of the moment. Asking God for its meaning and I got this impression that God just knew that I would love it here.
It was like God was saying “I KNEW you’d love it here 🙂 All along I knew 🙂 I knew you’d love this team, this ministry, the bike you get to ride everywhere, the sunset. The women that have been disciplining you, All of it. And I placed your feet right here.”
There is a darkness here in Jaco that you only notice if you’re looking for it. Once that sun goes down everyone with bad intentions comes out. As a short term missionary, those people aren’t my mission. It takes t i m e to develop relationships BUT I have had the honor of loving and supporting and gleaning wisdom from the people who do live here.
They live life and build community and surf and work and walk around this town with the most love in their hearts, listening to Holy Spirit telling them where to place it. They make the people that blend in with the darkness their mission.
10 years ago this place wasn’t what it is now. The founder of Oceans Edge came here against everyone else’s judgement and couldn’t find a single believer. Her life here was filled with hardship and spiritual warfare. Now teams come here to watch the light overcome the darkness. To hear and be a part of the stories. To gather all the wisdom that they can from this stunning community of believers fighting to shed the light that is being brought here.
Jaco- there is restoration. there is light on the horizon. there is hope.
Job 26
10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness. 11 The pillars of the heavens quake, against at his rebuke. 12 By his power he churned up the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces. 13 By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the gliding serpent. 14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”
