Is been a good 4 months since we have returned home but I want to share with all of you something God wanted me to share with my community and this involves you as well. Prior coming back I was in beautiful Swaziland and during one of our days off I went on a date with God while looking at the river. I was in need. I needed Him to help me write down what I was going to share about my journey once I got back home. This is the final product of that date:
U.S.A. The Poorest of Them All
I am thankful to be back to a place I appreciate so much. I am excited to be back to a place where I consistently feel the love and the support of the community. I am very thankful, and excited to share with you, all the great things God has shown me and did through me in my journey across the nations. I am grateful to God for blessing me with all the experiences that has helped me grow and see the world the way He sees it. I thank Him for giving me the opportunity to:
Love on and play soccer all-day all-night with street youth of Guatemala.
Provide food and laughs to those isolated in the mountainous area of Honduras.
Hug and play with fatherless children of Nicaragua and South Africa.
Be blessed by such a vibrant and giving community of Costa Rica.
Share the love of God to war refugees’ camps of Thailand.
Encourage the brave and faithful Christians of Laos.
Free the bounded souls in the prisons in Cambodia.
Worship and adore God with the lovely people with limited capabilities in Malaysia.
Free the women bounded in sex trafficking in the Philippines.
Run, play, and find life’s incredible joy with the orphans of Swaziland.
I would love to elaborate and give you more stories on all of those. However, God doesn’t want you to focus on what’s beyond your horizons. We need to focus on what is in front of us. We need to focus on this country in which we all call home. It is easier to ignore our own deprivation by looking others who seem to struggle on needs that we have abundantly. But deep down we are hurting much more and if we don’t act soon enough our home will crumble down to dust. Mother Theresa in her book “No Greater Love” stated something that I also noticed while being away that we all need to deeply ponder on:
“The world today is hungry not only for bread but hungry for love, hungry to be wanted, to be loved. They’re hungry to feel the presence of Christ. In many countries, people have everything except that presence, that understanding.
In every country there are poor. On certain continents poverty is more spiritual than material, a poverty that consist of loneliness, discouragement, and the lack of meaning in life.
When I pick up a hungry person from the streets, I give him rice and bread, and I have satisfied that hunger. But a person who is shout out, feels unwanted by society, unloved and terrified – how much more difficult is it to remove that hunger?
You in the West have the spiritually poorest of the poor much more than you have the physically poor. Often among the rich are very spiritually poor people. I find it is easy to give a plate of rice to a hungry person, to furnish a bed to a person who has no bed, but to console or to remove the bitterness, anger, and loneliness that comes from being spiritually deprived, that takes a long time.”
We have to do better, not as Christian but as a nation under God, by reaching out to our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in need. We need to create relationship with our neighbors. Be present and pray for our friends who hasn’t embrace Christ for they are spiritually hurt. Show compassion of God to the homeless of our cities. Show the love of God to our elders in nursing homes and the ill in hospitals. Exalt the joy of God in orphanages. Free the souls of those bounded by the enemy in prisons and in the sex trafficking business. Parents you have to do better with your children while you have them at home. God understands you need to provide financial stability but it is even more important to spend time with your kids than your own job. Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” This is why is so important to teach them about Love. Teach them about the One loving Father who loves us unconditionally. Teach them that, whether you are or not physically present, there is a Father who loves more than ANYONE in this world, who will always be there for them, who will not forsake them, who will never abandon them.
God Bless.
The adventure that God granted my squad last year was an adventure of a lifetime. It won’t be the highest point of our life, but one that we will gladly share many times as all the lessons God gave us through the heart and soul of the people we met are unforgettable. We won’t forget either those who helped and made our journey possible. We will be forever grateful to those who covered us in prayers, those who supported us financially, and those who assisted us one way or another. Thank you.
