I wake up every day around 4 A.M.
I’m never sure if it is just jet lag or the blistering heat. Like a warm old friend, the humidity and stuffy air wraps itself around me. Years ago I would’ve recoiled in horror. Now I just grin and embrace it. The Philippines is what it is. Life is what it is.
So often we fight against that, don’t we? More then one moral tale of pursuing life beyond today has risen up in classical literature. A Christmas Carol, The Great Gatsby, The Good Earth. Great Expectations. Obsession. Desire for more. Wealth. We are always driving 100 MPH to arrive at a pretty destination when the slow drive would greatly satisfy us more then the hasty journey.
People find themselves waiting for real life to begin.
The Philippines shock me. Violently. Audaciously. The smells, poverty, slums, shacks, street food, stray dogs, grinning and laughing people. There is so much contrast between the poor and rich here. It is unimaginable to the American mind. I had never really thought about what the Philippines would look like. The country is beautiful and the people are delightful. Yet skyscrapers jut out behind the tin shanties in the foreground.
Even the poor in America are rich here.
In fact the whole concept of poverty, of being American gets rewritten. How often have I seen a man lusting after bigger television screens and newer computer parts when the people here cannot even stop the rain. They place posters and pieces of old paper on roofs and walls to eliminate leaks.
Yet they seem so happy.
(Ben is famous here, everyone knows his name)
Coming here harkens back to a time beyond obsession. I am hesitant to even open my Macbook. I might miss a laugh or a grin. I might miss the times Emily tells me a funny story about Jesus. The way Garvey amazes me with his rawness. The way the people here eat breakfast together and sit as a family.
This is life. No pixelated Ipod screens. No Video Games. No Movies. Just life. I feel like I’m in the movie trailer for Life of Pi. Colorful visions explode around me. Vibrant and vervant.
This big loving man named Jeff has assembled a group of people who live out ministry daily at this place. I find it incredible. I can see the heart of a father in Jeff. Anger wells up in his eyes when he talks about the sex-trade here. Hope fills his eyes when he talks of Jose’s angels, a ministry built to take in girls who have been hurt, abused, trafficked, broken.
Reaching the people here is all about reaching the culture, seeing the real problems. Twice a day they travel to little shanty villages and hand out food. Jeff realized that drowning is a huge issue in the Phillipines. We take for granted the fact that our kids grow up learning how to swim, learning from high schoolers needing a summer job. So they built a pool and let the neighborhood kids come in and swim. It’s delightful to see the way they crash and explode with delight.
To young boys, the joy of a pool is not unlike the joy of a little girl twirling in a sundress in fields of daisies.
Violin lessons. A library. And kids rescued and just so in need of adoption.
It brings me to tears. In the heart of a neighborhood of impoverished youth. There is a man giving his life. Sometimes it’s not what we actually do that changes everyone, it’s creating opportunity.
These men and women who give everything to reach those in the world. They inspire me. They keep me running. They show me there is good on this terrestrial sphere.
(Traditional Phil' bicycle)
Housekeeping: I’m going to do a couple different types of blogs this year. Some are informational A.K.A. “What the heck is Jake doing.” And others are spiritual and stuff. I need about 3000$ to reach my goal of staying past month four so please join me by praying for that and if the Lord leads you supporting! Plus I can't get photos to work overseas easily, hehe, they take up bandwidth and its hard too. So I'm going to load a bunch onto Flickr and Photobucket instead of a ton on this blog.
(Isn't she adorable?)
