Well I’m in Honduras! Month 3 is on! My team and I are working at a ministry’s called Heart of Christ working with special needs kids and people who are victims of rape. I can honestly say that this is the most intense ministry that I have ever been a part of. Our ministry host likes to describe her work here as the dark side of ministry. She does the things that no one else wants to do or the stuff that no one else is brave enough to do. For years now she has been working in Honduras as the head of a special crimes operation fighting against rape, incest, murder, corruption, sex trafficking, strapping a bulletproof vest to her chest and a pistol to her hip and breaking down doors in Honduras to save victims or these special crimes… You name it, she has fought it.
Right now there is a family of victims here at the ministry. The husband in this family is by far the most disgusting person I have ever heard of. He would beat his wife more then anyone I have ever heard of. When she would try to leave he would kidnap her relatives and hold them hostage till she came back to him. He has raped his own family members, beaten family members in submission, and is beloved to have murdered family members. I have never heard of something this sickening before in my life.
As our contact was telling us the story of this man she could see the anger and honestly hatred in my eyes. I’m not going to lie, when she told us of all that he had done, if he was standing in front of me I would of done all that I could to cause him pain. That’s my flesh talking. She saw how much I was disgusted and how much I wanted to man to pay for what he has done by my own hands and she looked at me and said “He is just a lost soul, and your soul doesn’t deserve salvation through Christ anymore then his does.”
That really put me in check. This man who would beat, rape, and threaten to murder his family, and I are exactly the same, helpless without Christ. The only difference between me and this guy is that I was a lost soul but then turned to Christ and found forgiveness. It’s the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life, but I have to pray for this man. Even when my flesh is crying out to cause pain to this guy I have to look past it and see him for who he is, a man without hope. A man without love. A man without Christ. My whole purpose for this mission trip is to share the love of Christ, and if I don’t share it to this man then this whole journey is meaningless because I’m not doing what God has called me to do.
Sometimes ministry is difficult. Scratch that, ministry is always difficult, there are just something’s that are easier to grasp ahold of. Praying for your enemies is the hardest ministry I have done, and my hope and prayer for everyone is that we face this hard ministry. That we all would take a stand and instead of seeking revenge or plotting against our enemies we would pray for them. We would intercede on their behalf.
What my host said to me is true for us all, our enemies who don’t know the love of Christ are just lost souls, and our soul doesn’t deserve salvation through Christ anymore then theirs do.
