Hello,
Today, I wanted to share with all of you a lesson I learned this past week while ministering at a city called Jipijapa. My team was broken into two groups of three which were each teamed up with a local person. This new group of four then went to the houses of kids in the youth group to meet and talk with them. One girl we talked to look to be in her late teens and was currently pregnant. She said she believed in Christ but was kind of wavering in her faith. As I looked around at her house, which was not much more than a shack, and into her eyes, I could tell that hope was something this girl was severely lacking. This was the opportunity I had been waiting for the entire trip. Here was someone with no peace that I could give hope to by sharing the Gospel of Christ. Then I looked around again and saw my team which consisted of two girls who spoke little to no Spanish and our guide who spoke only Spanish, I looked at the girl who spoke virtually incomprehensible Spanish to me (I have a very hard time understanding the lower class and the working class.), and I quickly realized that I would not be sharing the Gospel that day. As the conversation unfolded, I wondered why God didn’t step in and help me, why didn’t he give me the ability to share with the girl. Then I realized, He had. I was the one who missed the boat.
In school, I had always taken pride in most of my classes. I always strived to put my best foot forward and achieve the highest grade I could. However, I did not do this in all of my classes. In my Spanish classes, I always gave myself a pass with the excuses of it’s not necessary for me to learn or I am just not as good at it as say math or economics. In high school, I would work just hard enough to get the grade I wanted and then stopped. I wasn’t actually trying to learn the language. In college, I was frankly relieved to get the grade I got in Spanish even though I would have been greatly disappointed to receive the same grade in a math course. I certainly wasn’t taking pride in those classes. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,” which is certainly not a standard I was living up to in my Spanish classes. Now, after the fact, I realize that God had put those classes in my life with a purpose, and I chose not to participate in them “with all my heart,” and now, as a result, my team is hurt, my ministry is compromised, and that young woman may continue living a life with little hope.
Now, moving forward, I don’t want to dwell on the past. I can’t change it and I never will be able to change it. However, I can accept God’s grace and forgiveness while moving forward. This experience has made me desire to set impossible goals for the race. I like setting impossible goals because then I am never limiting myself by expectations. The one key to setting impossible goals is to be sure to accept grace when we fail. So, here are my impossible goals for the next year: I want cry every night as I ready for bed because my emotions cannot take any more pain and suffering because I have joined the people I am working with in their suffering and I want to pass out the second my head hits the pillow because my body can’t physically give any more. That would be the perfect race and would be a job done “as if working for the Lord.” Also, I would encourage all of you to look at your own life for your own Spanish classes. Is there any part of your life where you are just going through the motions? If so, I’d encourage you to change. God doesn’t work through accidents. He is always trying to teach and grow us and we don’t want to have to learn the lesson too late.
Also, I have been sick to my stomach for about the past 24 hours so if you could pray for that, it would be greatly appreciated.
Jipijapa:
God Bless and Go Blue,
Chance
