Where is your X

Journal entry from May 12th, 2013: "Today was not a good day. I'm so tired of this. I'm sick of having lice, I've had it for two and a half months now. My hair seems to now be falling out from all of the treatments I've been doing on it. I'm sick of wearing the same four dirty shirts over and over and over again. I don't even want to see another bowl of rice. And I'm sure tomorrow when I wake up and do manual labor in the mud for two hours, I will come home and  the water will be off. Another day without a shower. Ugh I wonder how much a plane ticket home would cost?"

                                                  
Yes, it's true. There are days I have thought about going home. However, when I flipped through the pages of my journal and stumbled across this section I felt differently about it. 
        Mat 6:19 says "Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be." I questioned myself when i saw my journal entry "Where is my treasure?" I felt embarrassed. How could I be so selfish? I was complaining about eating rice; however, in Honduras (just a month before) I saw hundreds of people digging through garbage in the city dump trying to find food for themselves and their starving children. I was complaining about only having four shirts, when I see children all over the world without a single pair of shoes and wearing the same torn-up filthy clothes every single day. I complained about having lice while I was in the middle of treating it. Today, I can't walk more than 10 min down the road without running into someone who desperately needs a doctor or starving children with extended bellies, their small bodies full of worms. My "not so good day" now seemed pretty pathetic. No where in Scripture does it say you will receive a reward here on this earth. It does say however in Colossians 3:23 Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people,24 because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as the reward.

        The world tells us we need this or that. But the only thing you and I truly need is Jesus. He is all we need and the places I've gone and the people I meet remind me of this. Both Cambodia and Rwanda have experienced devastating genocide within the last 30 years. These people have nothing. They've seen their family killed before them, they are left alone starving and helpless. Both countries face extreme poverty today. However when I ask a mother what she needs prayer for she simply replies " all I want is a stronger relationship with Jesus" she didn't say money, food, or clothing because she knows where her treasure lies. She's seen the brokenness of this world, her hope is in heaven. Does it take a genocide to realize that? Just turn on the evening news and you will shortly discover this world is falling apart. What are we all working towards? Is it to survive here on this earth by obtaining wealth and status or is it to LIVE in heaven one day. 2 Corinthians 4:17 For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison 18 because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. 

Month 5 I thought of myself as lacking, wanting more. Now, month 7 I know I have everything I could ever need. I have Jesus. I have found my treasure and it is everlasting. The lice, dirty clothes, and lack of showering is worth it, ten times over it is all worth it. Because I'm not searching for my treasure here on earth. If I have to endure these small things to draw closer to God or to tell someone else about our Father I will take them on with great joy. Our relationship with The Lord is the only thing that matters. It is worth more than any treasure you will find here on this earth. If X marks the spot I choose Jesus. Where is your X ?