He looked at one of my squadmates and his smile quickly changed to sadness. His tears were welling in his eyes and he looked desperate for something different than he's used to. For many years, he has resulted to alcohol for his refuge, for his answers. He lost his wife, he lost his family, and the only people left that he had are his parents. He lost everything. So, why not alcohol? Why not resort to something that can make you forget? The more you drink, the more you forget, right?
But this man, this man was looking for something different. He practically asked for something different. He came to us. We didn't come to him. And he found it yesterday.
We. are. it.
If there's one thing I have learned so far in my two months (going on three) of being apart of this ministry, it's that we bring something different to the table. We bring light into darkness. We bring hope to hopeless. We bring love to those who haven't seen love.
This month has already started out different. While the other two months have been alot of ministry and full schedules, we don't really have a schedule, so what do we do? We come up with one.
At first when I got here, I felt really uneasy in my spirit, and it lasted for a few days. I felt tired. I felt defeated. I felt unsure of what I was to do, of what my role was. I felt scared to go out into the community and felt confined to the property where we live at, because of an issue here in Nicaragua with theft. I felt like something was wrong, because normally when I head to a new country, I feel like it's a new home to live in. It didn't feel like that here for a while.
But after prayer, after worship, and after spending time with the Father, things changed.
A shift in the atmosphere.
Light invaded darkness.
And one of our team leaders read a Scripture to us. It says, "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.."
It's so true. One of the things that we have to come to terms with as followers of Christ, as his disciples, is that we bring light into dark places. Because we have a God who loves, because we have a God who invades and demolishes darkness, and because the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, we have that light and we have the power and the ability to access it freely.
We have that something different.
So this month, that's what we plan to do. We plan to be different. We plan to bring light into the barrios that we visit. We plan to spend time and develop relationships with the kids at the property we stay at. We plan to be a happy face for all the sad faces. We plan to pray for people who need it the most. And we plan to love the hell out of people. That is our plan.
That is God's plan.
What's your plan?
I need $980 more before I'm fully funded! If you feel led, please consider supporting me in this so I can finish out the whole 11 months on the race! Love you friends!
