Month 9 of the race, my team and I joined up with team “Joyful Awakening” for the month in Brown’s Town, Jamaica. We worked alongside Pastor Raymond evangelizing and building relationships in Brown’s Town and the surrounding communities.
The breakdown of our day was pretty much the same everyday, except for Sunday when we’d travel to Aboukir for church. Most days, we started our morning in prayer for the people of Jamaica and for God to lead and direct us. Shortly after, we’d head into the communities and stay out most of the day following whatever God’s call was for us that day.
Our days were long in the Jamaican heat and quickly we realized the darkness and confusion that afflicted and oppressed many. There were people bound by chains of addiction, people bound by lies about themselves or lies about God, and people with a polluted perception of Christianity.
After a raw, vulnerable month in Costa Rica, my newly healed wounds had an increased sensitivity. I was on high alert and felt everything 100 times deeper, especially the enemy’s attempt to distract us from the need that is in Jamaica. I was prepared this time to fight with all I had, but what I wasn’t prepared for was to fight for the people of Jamaica. God wanted me to fight for the same people that diminished our existence to what we could offer them, physically or monetarily, the same people dishing out provocative and vulgar remarks anytime we passed them by on the street or in the grocery store.
Reeling from the thought that God would actually ask me to love the same men that had attempted to diminish my value to a few simple, crass words, all I could ask was for God to break my heart for the people of Jamaica. And in response he said quietly,
“Seek me.”
In seeking God’s heart, he showed me how many of these people had been battered by the enemy. They were hit hard and had no way of protecting themselves. They had resorted to things of the world to numb the pain they experienced. The enemy had filled these people with such vile mistruths about life, causing them to project only what they’ve come to know. They were down and he continued beating them, hardening them to the truth and love of God.
Spiritually, they were bruised, bleeding, and broken.
God’s heart was breaking for these people. He wanted so desperately to be able to protect and love them, but He’d never been afforded the opportunity. Desperate for people to know Him and His truth, He equipped us with His love. He suited us up for the battle we were about to encounter and He stepped in the ring before us. He used us as vessels to love the “unlovable”, He afforded us the opportunity to share His name and have conversations of love in response to vulgar remarks received.
“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:10-17
The enemy wants to divide humanity by instilling fear, hatred, and distrust. He’ll attempt to demonize the innocent and falsely accuse them of being violent, evil, and dangerous. He manifests himself within the ones that need God the most, in desperate attempts to drive us away and discourage us. We’ll be provided with an infinite, sometimes logical sounding, amount of excuses to do nothing, to protect ourselves, and to withhold the love of Christ.
If Jesus used the same stipulations for love that we do, the gospel never would have existed, because almost every single experience Jesus put himself in required risk, sacrifice, and vulnerability. Instead of being fueled by fear, Jesus was fueled by hope and love. He calls us to bravely embrace a similar vulnerability. Christianity isn’t meant to be a religion of passivity and inaction, where we cynically seek out worst-case scenarios or see an obvious need right in front of us and do nothing.
How many times in a day do we withhold God’s love from the ones that need it the most?
Inaction is an action.
Be in prayer for the people of Jamaica, that their eyes will be opened and chains of addiction and lies would be broken; that God would continue to work in the lives of the people we formed relationships with even long after we’re gone. Also be in prayer for our host, Pastor Raymond, and his family as they continue to follow God’s call for their lives.
