3/8/20
A week ago, we moved to a different part of Costa Rica. A lovely little beach town called Jacó. We’ve enjoyed being on the beach for sunsets and sunrises and afternoons in which we should have all worn way more sunscreen.
Our ministry for this week was pretty cool. Throughout the week, we got to clean up the property of the ministry where we were staying in the mornings and in the afternoons we went out into the community to paint light poles.
Yes, you read that right. We painted beautiful murals on the light poles in town.
The ministry we helped with, Ocean’s Edge, was able to partner with a project the city wanted to do anyway, got donated paint, and began painting around 50 light poles.
They’re beautiful.
Paintings of local animals that are vibrant and colorful.
Two members of our squad, Hannah and Erica Everette, even got to design 2 of the poles themselves, with sea turtles. Personally, those are my favorite poles of all.
But what struck me in our ministry was the sheer number of people who stopped to compliment our work on the poles and tell us they appreciated us. They loved what we were doing. They loved that we were beautifying their town. They just loved it.
And I realized how important it is that if we want to reach the community, to show the community God’s love, then we need to be in the community. We need to be visible. We need to be seen.
If the community can’t see us then they don’t know the love we’re trying to show them.
If we stayed at the ministry site all day cleaning and never ventured into the community then they wouldn’t know we were there. They wouldn’t know we cared.
If you want to reach someone, you need to be where they can see you.
The balance is important. Taking care of yourself and your own and then going out filled with strength from self-care that you can pour into the people you want to reach. The ministry’s goal is to reach the community, so we need to balance taking care of the ministry and taking care of the community. It was good to spend part of the day cleaning the property of the ministry and part of the day visibly loving the community.
You’ve got to shine the light of Christ. You can’t stay hidden under a bushel. You can’t stay in the darkness. Or your love will never be seen.
I’m going to carry this lesson for the rest of my life. I’m going to remember that ministry can’t be hidden if you want to reach people outside your own small group of people.
Whatever your own goals, remember that. It’s hard to reach someone who can’t see you.
Go out and shine.
Go out and be seen.
