From day one of signing up for the race, I eagerly desired to see the book of Acts come alive. I was just flat out hungry to see God move in ways I had never seen before. I believed in miracles, signs, and wonders. I had seen the Darren Wilson films that portrayed divine encounters that I wanted myself. I had even tasted it at times back in the States. But even more so I heard testimony after testimony of miracles breaking out on the mission field. And when I said yes to the world race, I looked forward to the future yes’s to prayer for miracles. But then the first three months happened. In these months, yes of course, miracles took place. Just not the ones I wanted to see. I was glorifying the “big” miracles over the “small,” as if there were differences. In addition, God was doing something in me that I knew would take place, but it was entirely different to go through. God would break me down in the first three months. And he surely did that. Like I have previously mentioned in other blogs, God revealed things about myself that I didn’t want to accept and didn’t want to work out. If I were to have gone home at the end of month three, I would have told you that, “Yes the race was good but God basically beat me up for three months.” Coming into this month, I was praying that I would see the fruit of going through that process. Not to say that God is done working on me, He never is. But I definitely hit a turning point in my race where I clearly learned some things about this thing called “missions” and I wanted to see the fruit. One of the primary things I learned was that it is entirely on me to take ownership of what I want out of this race. If I want to preach, then go preach. If I want to feed the homeless, don’t wait for the ministry contact to set it up for you, do it yourself.
This lesson is one I took into this month. This month, all 9 of us guys were together for ministry and similar to Unsung Heroes, we were not at a ministry host for the month. We had the freedom to seek out whatever ministries we wanted here in the city of La Ceiba. This freedom created a ton of space for me to seek out my heart’s desires for the streets. Why the streets? I believe where streets are there are people, where people are there is opportunity, and where opportunity is there is space for God to move. Very fortunately, another one of the guys, Brad, was hungry for the same thing. So we went out, prayed, loved, and pursued His people. Each day looked a little different but one day we discovered the town square. A place not common in the States but every city across the globe seems to have central place that everybody goes to. From the very first time I arrived there, I fell in love with it and so we went there almost every day.
La Ceiba Town Square
One day out in the town square, we encountered a real problem, but a good one. Our radar was so focused to look for crutches, limps, and the sick, that we realized there was simply too many to pray for. But we kept stopping for each one. Right after immediately being done with praying for another person, we noticed a guy on crutches in the middle of the square getting away from us. We started chasing after him. I literally stopped in my tracks and laughed loud enough for Brad to hear me and look back at me. I couldn’t believe it. Four months ago fear often times kept me from following the Spirit’s leading and now here I was…literally chasing after people. Chasing after miracles. Not worrying about pharisaical motives which Jesus surely rebuked pointing to the resurrection as the only sign worth seeking. We weren’t seeking miracles for the sake of just seeing them. We wanted to see God glorified and see this person blessed. In reality, we were catching up to this person to bless them and God definitely blessed our hunger.
After walking out of the mall one day, I noticed a teenager with a limp from a still healing broken leg. I prayed for it, his face lit up with happiness as Brad translated that he said his leg felt a lot better. So we prayed again, and with utter shock, it was completely healed. Another day we were walking through the square and a man approached desperately looking at us. After talking to him for a couple minutes, he had shared with us that he was a pastor and needed money for new glasses. His vision had become so bad that he couldn’t read anymore, and therefore couldn’t stand up to preach. Instead of offering him some money, we asked if we could pray for his eyes. While we were praying, I asked the Lord that he would feel his eyes being healed in a physical way. We said amen, and he began to tell us that he felt like someone was taking ice cubes to the front of his eyes. He had felt that God had healed him and so I asked him if he had anything to read with him. He pulled out his devotional and started to read! It was a beautiful picture of the body of Christ as missionaries from the States were helping a brother in Honduras. In another occurrence, we encountered a legless homeless person who lives on the streets near the town square. When we approached him, I felt like the Holy Spirit gave me a physical impression in my right shoulder. It started hurting. I just went for it and asked, “Do you have pain in your right shoulder?” He stared at me for a couple seconds with a look of, “Who the heck are you and how’d you know that?” and said, “Yes, because when I walk I have put all my weight on my right shoulder.” So again we asked if we could pray for it. But this time nothing happened. This wasn’t a rare occurrence. Many times this month, we had stopped and asked the Lord for a miracle in that moment and nothing had happened. We just blessed the person and went on our way, often not seeing that person again. But we came across him again said hello and continued walking. But I stopped, and asked Brad if he wanted to ask him how his shoulder was. We circled back and asked. He nonchalantly answered, “It’s completely healed. It happened later that day.”
These three testimonies taught me so much. First, I believe God’s will is always to heal. We just don’t know the timing of it. Whether in an instant, or ultimately in heaven, God always wants to heal the person. This should give us increase in boldness and decrease in anxiety, as Holy Spirit is the source, not us. Second, the Great Commandment must precede the Great Commission. Jack Frost in his book, “Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship,” says when this doesn’t happen, we become subject to our own mission. This reminded me of an important lesson God taught me back in Nicaragua. I was frustrated with the lack of the Spirit’s power. I knew I didn’t desire these things for myself. I constantly told God that I was after His glory in this. But God slapped me in the face one night, and asked me, “What about the person?” I wasn’t seeking my own glory, I was seeking His, but in the process I had missed the person. What was missing in my heart was the compassion for the person’s physical and spiritual need I was praying for. He had slapped me in the face with the humanity of the person. In other words, I had put my mission before His. This revelation was so filled with God’s grace and I believe more than anything this month has catapulted me into something new. It has given me a greater hunger to chase others with the love of God. Whether that happens through healing, miracles, feeding the hungry, or clothing the naked, I am ready and wanting more.
Some of the guys passing out food in the Square on Christmas Eve
Josh, Me, Victor, Isuela, and Brad. Isuela is a security guard in front of the municipal building. We stop and visited with him everyday as we walked to the square, sometimes just to chat or even have lunch.
