It’s so amazing the things that happen when you allow God to orchestrate your days. When your only expectation is obedience into whatever the Holy Spirit leads you into, there is literally no telling what the day is going to hold. A prime example of this unfolded for me this weekend. The following is a journal entry from myself explaining this unexpected adventure!
Journal Entry: 11/10/18
I started off today the way any champion would: with a Coca-Cola and a cinnamon roll for breakfast. After eating the most important meal of the day, we had our daily devotional where I studied a bit of James (James 3:13-18 specifically). Unlike most Saturdays, my team was off from typical ministry so the plan was to do a prayer walk around the neighborhood we live in. We split into three groups, and I was paired with Jesse and Andrew. We took a stroll with no expectation other than having an intentional time of prayer.
As we walked along, praying over the neighborhood, I asked God to place someone on our path that we could share the Gospel with. The sidewalk we were on veered right into the park that is near our house. Immediately we saw a group of young men working out on some of the exercise equipment. Jesse turns to us and says, “I’m gonna go do a pull-up.” Jesse jogs up ahead towards the group of guys, and Andrew and I followed behind. After showing off some of our impressive strength with some pull-ups, we struck up a conversation with a dude named Cedric. He spoke really good english, and had a genuine interest as to what we were doing in the country. We asked him about one of his tattoos, and he immediately began telling us about what he believed. It surprised me as to how willing he was to share his beliefs with us, and convicted me because I am not always willing to share what I believe. After he was finished, we got the opportunity to share the message of Jesus with Cedric, and he was extremely perceptive. He didn’t accept Christ, but seeds were planted and he allowed us to pray with him. I headed back to the house feeling encouraged and content. I had no idea that God still had so much more in store.
After lunch, a group of us (Avery, Paige, Savana, Lindsey, Jesse, and me) decided to take a trip to Tres Rios. The girls had met some homeless men there last week, and wanted to reconnect and pray with them again. We took a 10 minute bus ride to Tres Rios, and arrived at the square where the homeless men had been before, but unfortunately they were not around today. We took some time to explore the nearby farmers market, bought some fresh fruit, and I drank some very questionable juice.
We headed back up to the square where Jesse, Lindsey, and I joined two kids playing soccer while Paige, Avery, and Savana split off in search of the homeless men. I was thinking, “How am I going to bring up the Gospel to these kids?” (my spanish knowledge is comparable to a Costa Rican 2nd grader). Just as those thoughts were crossing my mind, a lady approaches us and hands all 5 of us Gospel tracks. I gave God a figurative fist bump, and used that opportunity to ask the two guys if they were Christians. They were both believers so we just began to pray for them. As we finished the prayer and opened our eyes, there was a man standing just outside of the circle we had made. He introduced himself as Henrry, told us that he was a local missionary in Costa Rica, and offered to pray with us. We prayed again, and then Henrry asked us if we’d like to pray with the entire missions group that he was with. We walked across the square to a group of 15 or so, and got to pray with them as well. After that prayer, Henrry told us that they were having a church service at 3:00, and wanted us to join them. We hesitantly said yes, and I headed off to round up the rest of our little team.
As I met up with the other three (Savana, Paige, and Avery), I noticed that they were sharing the Gospel with a man who later introduced himself as Bryan. Earlier, the girls had wanted to pray for a man with a limp, but couldn’t figure out how to tell the man that. That’s when Bryan had stepped in out of the blue (coincidence?), and offered to translate.They began to talk with Bryan after they had prayed for the crippled man. Bryan has such a thirst for truth, and I have faith that he is going to find that truth in Jesus. We prayed with Bryan, got his contact information, and then headed back over to meet with Henrry.
The church was about a 15 minute walk from where we were at in Tres Rios. We stepped into the church, and had never felt more welcomed. These people were so genuine, and truly wanted to serve us. They sat us down and fed us beans and rice almost as if they were expecting us. We went into the sanctuary after we were done eating. We were about 15 minutes late for the service, but they had waited for us to finish eating to start. Almost immediately, Henrry begins to tell the church the story of how he had met us, and then he tells us to come up with him to the front. He hands us the mic and asks us to introduce ourselves as well as explain how we were feeling today. We were caught off guard to say the least, but we did our part and sat back down. After a few spanish hymns, Henrry comes back up and says that they were going to sing a song in english. I was excited to be able to sing a song in a language that I could understand until Henrry turns to us and says, “Do you guys want to come up and sing for us?” Feeling as if we didn’t really have a choice at this point, we came back up to the front and sang “How Great Thou Art” in front of the whole church. We had to leave right after we got done singing so they stopped the service to say goodbye to all of us. I felt so much love from people that I didn’t even know. They truly modeled what it looks like to love and serve like Jesus.
It’s truly amazing looking back and seeing how God orchestrated that day, and sent us on a crazy adventure. I want to live a life where I’m constantly asking God where I need to be, and following in obedience no matter where it takes me.
